THE woRKS TACITUS. VOLUME TI: CONTAINING THE ANNALS To which are prefixed, POLITICAL DISCOURSES Upon that Author. LONDON: Printed for Tuo. Woopwarn, at the HalfMoon over- againft St. Dunftan’s Church Flect-ftre and. Joun Peeves, at Locke’s-Head in Pater-nofter Row. MDCCXXVIII.act ae, tne ,TO The Right Honourable Sir Ropert WALpote, Firft Commiflioner of the Treafury, Chancellor and Under-Treafurer of the Exchequer, one of his Majefty’s Moft Honourable Privy Coun- ~ cil, and Knight of the Moft Noble Order of “the Garter. ¥S you were the firft to promote the fol- lowing Work in a public manner, I take the liberty to prefent it to the Public un- der your name, and to do an aét of ac- ax] knowledgment for one of gencrofity. Be . # pleated to be the Patron of a Book which under your Patronage was compofed. It is natural and com- mon for men who profels Letters, to feck the countenance ind proteétion of men of Power; and from fuch of them as to greatnef of fortune were happy cnough to join greatne& of mind, they have not fought in vain. A PowerDEDICATION Powex without Politenefs aid Complacency, is at beft diftafteful, often hated; amiable when it knows how to condefcend, It is thus that men in high ftations avoid envy from fuch as ftand below them. He who cannot rife to their height, finds a fort of retaliation and amends in their coming down to him. No man is pleafed with a be- haviour which reprefents him as conternptible, To make 1s think well of ourfelves, by another's fhewing us that we are well thought of by him, is a generous and artful civility: a Iefion which ftately and rebuking men want to learn, “A. mean man of great quality and figure (for fuch incongrui~ ties we often mect) teaches others to feorn him, by his fhewing that he feorns them. Affability therefore, accompa- nied with good-fenfe, which will always guard it from ex- ceeding, is the art of keeping great Splendour from grow. ing offenfive to the reft of the world. Ir muft be owned that no Affability, even the moft ow- ing; noGenius, even the moftelevated, can efcape particular diftaftes 5 and from the diflike of Perfons to that of A@ions the tranfition is eafy and too common. Men do not eafily difeern good qualities and intentions in one, to whom they do notwith well. All men, even thofe of the moft unexception- able Charaéters, are apt to form their judgment over-haftily, when their paffions are warmed: and from this caufe it has of- ten proceeded, that the inevitable misfortunes of times and ac cidents have been charged upon fach, whofe interef and ftudy it was to prevent them. ‘This is one of the evils and une cafinefies infeparably attending every Adminiftration. When a State is under heavy burdens and difficulties, the means to re- and fupportis, will bealmoft always proportionably heavy: and as whatever proves heavy, however neceffary, is cafily called Oppreffion ; fo the hand, which adminifters a remedy, may, merely becaule it is felt, be eafily filed oppreflive. Brstnes the reafon which I have already given for this Addrefs, I have another; one taken from the Charaéter of myDEDICATION: my Author. As he was a man of Affairs, a great Minifter, I choofe to prefent him to another; to one who having been long engaged in public Life, having had long experience of men, feen far into their bent and foibles, and been converfant with the myfteries and primary operations of Government; can thence readily judge whether ‘racrtus has refined too much in his Politics, or been over fevere in his Cenfures upon mankind: or whether this charge has not been chiefly raifed by men of fpeculation, who, however furnithed with Learn- ing, were yet unacquainted with the tranfactions of States, and ignorant of human nature; or perhaps willing to do ho- nour to it, or to themfelves at the expence of Truth. Men are to be known, not by Theories taken up in clofets, but by Commerce with men; and beft of all in thofe great {cenes of public Life, where you, six, have fuftained, for fo many years, a high and important part, and gained eminent ex- perience as well as the juft opinion of great {ufliciency. Tcould here, agreeably to the ufual ftile and purpofe of Dedications, fay a great many advantageous things, without rifquing the ufual cenfure incurred by Dedicators, But fach things I would much rather fay of you, than to you. In this place, I thall only profefs my being with perfe& truth and refpedt, STR, Your moft obliged and moft obedient bumble Servant, T. GORDON.THE CONTENTS OF THE DISCOURSES DISCOURSE L ‘Upon the former Englith Tranflations of tacxTus. ECT. 1. Of the Tranflation by cxeenway and six w. savie. Page t Seét. I. -Of the Englifh Tranflation by feveral hands. ibid. Se TL Of she lft Tranatio of the ff Arnal pz Set. IV. Of the laff Tranflation of the'fecond Arnal. By Set V> Of the lot Tranflation ofthe third inna id. Sect. VI. the Uap Tranftion of the fourth, ff, and sixth os Bt Seat. VII. OF ne Loft Tranflation of the eleventh Arnal. po Se VIL. OF the left Tranflaton of the twelfth and sbirteenth a. nals, ibid. Sct. IX. Of the laff Tranflation of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and. J = teenth Annals. DISCOURSE IL Upon racrrus and his Writings. Seek. I. The Charatter of tscrrus. P10 Seét. II. How much he excells in Defeription and Force. pom Sct. HI. “Further infbances of the jufineft of bis Genes, and of bis reat Thoughts. ees Se. 1V. The Morality of tacirus, and bis fpivie vir care at Inman. Se. Ve The Sie of Tacx tus, bow) pertinent aud bappy: bit Ob- feurity, a charge of the moderus only. ibid. Se&. VI. A general Charaéter of Ins Wor peas Set. VIL. “T'actrus vindicated fiom the iuputation of deriving events fram counjels too fubtle and malevolent, ibid Seét. VIN. More Lrooft of the Candour and Veracity of vacirus. Set. IX. Mr. nave anjuft eenfitre of ractrus; and bi the latter laced aud abferved the Laws of Fyftory. p. 25 Sect. X. Au Apoleey for the swrong accomt by racrrys given of the Jeivs wand Chriftians, aud for his difregard of the R= ligion then received, ibid, a Sost.THE CONTENTS Se. XL. The foolifh Cenfrre of Boccanrant aud others coe cirus. age 28 SeB XIL, Of the fveral Commentators and Tranfatos of xactrys, : ibic Se&. XI. A Conjititre coining the mead Langtyedd, move Brgely concerning the Englifb. ee pe 30 SeGh. XIV. A Conjedtinve concerning the prefint flate of the Englife Tongue, with an accoant of the préfim Wark, pe 32 DISCOURSE IL Upon cesar thé Dictator. SeG.1. Of cesan’s Ufurpation, and why his Name is lof edious than that of caT1LINE. Peat See IL Of she publck Cortption by ese promated or intradaced rb his bold and wicked. Conduit... oy 1, Bo 35 SeQ. IL. Cesan might have purifid and efortitd be State; but ‘far’ diferent were. bis jntentions, His Art, gond Senft, ‘and continued ill Defigns, Pal Sc&. IV. The probability of his waxing more cruel, had he reigned much. longer. . » es Pr 38 SeG.V. Cesar no lacifil Magiffrate, but, a pblick Pnemy. p. 35, Set. VI. Of the jbaire which Cefualijes bad, in rgifng the Naree' and Meiiny of Cuank. The Sudgnes of clgeRe cerning bi. pao Se€t. VIL. How vain it it,t0 extol any Defigns of his for the Glory of the Ronan. people. sot ene Pua Seét. VILL Of his Death; and the vajtiet of afcribing to divine Pen- Seance the fate of fuch as flew him. pat DISCOURSE W. Upon octavius cusan, afterwards called aucusrus. Sct. I. Of the bafé anid impious Arts by whith he acquired the Empire. F = Peas Set. IL. Of the vindiétive fpirit of Octavius; aid bis horrid Cru eles. . iP 4d Se&t. TIL. Of the tréachery, ingiratiticd, ied further cruelties of oc tavius: that the fame’ were wanton and volantary. . 45 Se&t.1V. Of the popular Arts and Accidents cxbich ¥aifed the Charar- ter of AUGUSTUS. . pe 4e Se&. V. Tho’ aucusrus courted the iileond Pertcilar Senaors the continued 10 deprefi publick Liberty and the Senate. p. 48 See. VI. What Fame be derived’ from the Poets and other flattering Writers. of his time. pas Sc. VIN. Of! the fale Glory fought and acquired by nucustus, from the badnafs of his Succeffors. Psd ScQt. VILL | The Charatter of nu custus. ibid. - IX. Of the Helps and Caiifis which acquired and profivged. the Fanpive to Mv ousTUs. His great Power’ and Fortine, no proof of extraordinary Ability. poss 1 DIs-ly THE CONTENTS DISCOURSE V. Of Governmienits free anid atbittary, more efpetially tat ofthe cEsARs. S80, 1. The Principle of God's apporiting and protecting Trrants, tn “Abfirdity wd bad the Ronde Pace 5a Se. IL. The reafonablenefs of refifting Tyrants alfirtéd; from the ods of Governrient and the Natire of the Déty. Opinions the moft impiois and extravagant, why tavght and how eafily fivallowied: B53 S&L. The daiger of flavifor Principles to fiich ak iruft in them, ‘and the notorious inficurity of lacile[s Might. 55 Sets EV. Princes of Bete atid bad Minds, map preety of Pri Princes of large and gold Minds coupe to rile Limitations. 57 Seah. Vs The Widom nidSafty of Fig by nding Ei, t Pree and People. pe 58 See. VI. The Concition of free Stites, boc referable to that of fics by Law and . as are not free. B59 Seek, VIL The Mifery “anid Infectivity of the Ceftirs frove their over : Poser. peo Seat, Vit F reprefomation of the Torments and Horvors under thib FIBER US Lived. Pp. 62, Seat. IX. The terrible Optritim of lawlefs Power spon the Minds of Princes ; and bor #t changes them. ibid. Se. X. The wretched Fears accompanying the poffiion of arbitrary Pour, extipigfed i cacreu tn ee, Namen Ea pre P. 65 Sea. XI. tit is that confitutes the Security aid Glory of a Prince : and how a Prince and People become eftraviged from each ‘other. » 64. See KIL Floen puarly 12 bebouis a Prince 10 be blood aad peraed by his SubjeEts. The tervible Confequences of their mutual Wifirapt and Hatred. p. 65 Sea, XL Pbk Hoppin only then cevtéi, sehen the Lares ave ‘ertain and inviolable. p67 . DISCOURSE VL OF the old Law of Treafon by the Emperors perverted and extended, Sc&t. 1. Theantient Purpofe of that Toews the Politicks of avaustus in foretching it. p68 SeGt. IL. The" Deification of the Fimperors, what an engine of Tyramy, ‘and fare to the Roman People. Pp. 70 Seét. UL. The Images of the Emperors, bow fucred they became, and how pernicious. P7t Se. IV. What a dejfruttive Calamity the Law of Majefly grew, and how faft Tieafons multiplied smder its-Name. — p. 73 DIs-THE CONTENTS DISCOURSE VIL OF the Accufations, and Accufers under the Emperors. Se&t. 1. The peptilent Employment of thefe Men, their Treachery and En: couragement. Page 74 Set. I. The traiterous Methods taken to circumvent and comvitt In scence. The fpirit of accujing bow common, the dread of it bow sniverfal ; and the mifery of the Times. — p. 77 Set. IL. Plots feigned or true, an ample field for Accufations and Crit~ elty; and upon what miferable Evidence Executions were decreed. p78 SeQ. IV. What ridiculous Caufts produced capital Guilt. The fpirit of tke Emperor const aw tiuss with fomewhat of his ‘ather CONSTAN TINE. P79 Set. V. The black and general carnage made under CONST ANTLUS, by his bloody Minifier PAULUS CATENA, for Certait Abs of Superftition and Curiafity. p. 80 Set. VI, The Ravages of the Accuférs continued ; their Credit with the Emperors s yet generally mect their Fate. The Fal- Good of thee Bice: the melancholy State of thefe Timer . 8k Se6t. VIE. The increalé of Tyranny. Iunocece and Guilt not meajired 4 the Las, but bythe Eimperor's Pleafire and Mati. . 84. Se&. VII. What tacirus means by Inftrumenta regni. 5 85 Sect. IX. How much thefe Emperors hated, and how faft they deftroy~ ed all great and worthy Men. Their dréad of every Man Sor any Reafon. . 86. Se&t. X. Réfleétions upon the Spirit of a Tyrant. With what Wanton efi the Roman Emperors fled the blood of the Roman Peo ple. The Blinduefs of fich as afffied the Ufurpation of Cesar and aucustus. p. 87 Set. XI. Why under fich Tyrants, the Senate continued ta fubift. p. 85 Set. XU. How the unrelenting Cruelty of the Emperors bajtened the Diffolution of the Empire. The bad Reigns of Const an- TINE and constantius. The good Reign of yo- xian. The indifereet bebaviow of the Chriftians. Cin- tinued Tyranny; and end of the Empire. P. 90 Se&t. XIII. Zhe Excellency of a limited Monarchy, efpecially of our own. P. 9% DISCOURSE VIL OF the general Debafement of Spiricand Adulation which accompany Power unlimited. Se&t. 1. The motives of Flattery confidered. Its vileneft, and whence it begins. 95 Pp Sefk I Men of elevated Minds irreconcilable to Arbitrary Bove, and thence fifpetted by it. The Court paid to it always n= Sincere, forivtimes expedient, but feldons obferves any bounds. p96 1 Sect,THE CONTENTS Bet IIL The exceffive Power of the Imperial freed Slaves ; with the Leandalous Submifion and Honours fail them bythe Romans. 'age 97 Tie exe later of the Senate, bow il jndged. |p. 32 The free Judgment of Pofterity a powerful warning to Princes, to. reign with moderation and to deteft Flatterers. The ‘Name and Memory of the Roman Tyrants how treated. 100 Seét. VI. How lamentably Princes are debauched and mifed by Fate terers! Pp. 101 Sc&t. VIL. The peffilent tendency of flattering Cornfils, and the Glory of fuch as are fosceré. P. 102 DISCOURSE K. ‘Upon, Courts. ‘ SeQiE. Of Freedom of Speech; and how, reafenable it is. 10s Sen Ge Spirit. off Courtiers: what: fome good ones. . 10g Se. HE “The Arts of Caurtiens, their Cautioufnels, and. its Canfas, . 107 Se&.1V. Of Slanderers and Talebearees in Courts: the Fally of Graft Se) Sesh. V. How mach ortble People abound i Courts and soby. Bo 248 Sek. VI. The remarkable Ficklene/s and Dyfmcerity, of Courticr?. py 114 DISCOURSE X. OF Armies and Conqueft. Seét. 1. The Burden and Danger of maintaining great Armies, p. 1x6 Sect Ii. “Great drmice the bop phat whether thence the lefs for midable to a Country. Their Temper and Views, pe 1x7 Se. I. Princes ruling by military Power, ever at the Mercy of mix litary Men. Pu Se IV. Inflances of the bolduefi and Finy of the Roman Soldiery. Pp. 19 Set. V. The Humour of Conquering, bow injudicious, vain, and de- firuttive. p. 120 Se&t. VI. The Folly of conquering further urged and exemplified. p. Table of the ANNALS. Boox I. Page r. Boox XI. Page 250 IL p: 60 xi. p. 265 Il. pe rir XII. Pp. 306 Vv. Pass xIV. P. 349 Vv. Pp. 207 xv. p. 398 vi. pe 243 Xvi Be as4 N.B. Jn Page 60, 111, Ge. inflead of ANNAL UW, IN, de. read BOOK Ii, Il, oe. bERRATA inthe, DISCOURSES. Dishes mes tren ok uml tt nab atie id cee iets eg cag ee Eagle nace gi 7 haa, haan 65 94 dele, 38 or a In the ANNALS. 7 Beacigi hae hea nado vee tesa Gee my oe Biola Renee Gere heads bese ear Belge a ome e's ager Bae ec TatoDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS DISCOURSE L Upon the former Englith Tranflations of TACITUS, Se&t. I. Of the Tranflation by GREENWAY and ste H. SAVILL. for wifdom and force, is in higher fame and confideration, than almoft any other that has yet appeared amongft mens a Work of ten tranflated into many Languages, {eldom well into any, into ours worft of all. The firft was done in Queen EL1zABETH's reign, the Annals by one crEENWwAY, and four Books of the Hiftory by's1 HENRY SAVILL, a man exceeding learned, and eftceméd for his critical notes upon’ rac rrus, as well as for thof upon St. cHRY~ sostom, of whofe works he has publifhed an elaborate edition. But tho! he was an able Grammarian, and underftood the Antiquities in actus, and his words, his Tranflation is a mean performances his file is iff, fpisideS, and obfeure; he drops many of his Author's ideas, preferves none of his fine turns, and flarves his meaning even wherehe belt conveys it, "Tis mere Tranflation, that rather of one word intoanother, than that of a dead tongue into a living, or of fence into fence. ‘The Roman idiom is forced and wire-drawn into the Eng- Tith, a taflc altogether impoflible; and not adopted and naturalized, “a thing poffible enough: and out of a Book profute in eloquenes, fine tpi and images, he bas drawn a work harfh, halting and barren. Oc1nay is not more unlike vinett. Greenway is ftill worfe chan sa- v 114; he had none of his learning, he had all his. fiults and more: the former has at leaft performed like « fehoolmafter, the lutter like a fchoolboy. Sc&.IL Of the Englifh Tvanflation by foveral hands. BOUT a hundred years afier them another Englith ‘Tranflation was undertaken by feveral hands, Mr. prypEN and others. Drypen has tranflaced the firt Book; buc done it almoft literally fiom Mr. AMELOT DE LA noussay, with fo much hafte and B little I AM going to offer to the publick the Tranflation of a Work, which2 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, litle exa€ineG, that befides his many miftakes, he has introduced(fes eral Gallicifins: he follows the French author fervilely, and writes French Englith, rather than truft him out of his eye. It is true ba Houssave is an honeft Tranflator, and one of the foremoft: he has gone as far as the thirteenth Annal inclufives buc his phrafes are often weak and trifling, and he is fubjedt to all that faintnefS and cirgumlocution for which the French’ tongue is noted. Dry- DEN copies his manner as well as his meaning, "twas pure hurry and want of application; for he was a fine writer, had.a copious imagination, a good ear, and a flowing ftile: ftrikke away all that is bad iin his works, enough will remain to thew him a great Poet, a man of parts anda mafler of language. Even his many enemies and oppo- fers thew the confiderablenefs of the man: but his excellencics in many things excufe not his fauks in others; his“Tranflation of racirus oor and languid, ‘no where derived from the original, generally full of miftakes;'at belt ’ds only the French Tranflator ill tanflated, or ill imitated, Set. HL. Of the laf Tranflation of the fuft Amal. ACITUS talking of the latter end of aveusrus his reign, fays, domi res tranguille : cadem magifiratuum vocabiila. Thele are two fentences independent of each others yet Mr. pry DEN tran ates, “all chings at Rome being in a fettled peace, the Magiftrates * fill retained their former names;” as if che one was the caule of the other. This blunder is owing to La Houssay® ill underftood: zout était tranguille & Rome, les Magifirats avoient les mémes noms: if inftead of avoient, he had faid ayant, the wanflation would have come pretty near the French, But the Englifh Tranflator does not fem to ‘underftand French, tho’ he has no other guide, elf how could he fo miferably miftake, pars multo maxima imminentis dominas “variis rumo- ribus differebant 5” a8 to render it, “ the greater part employed their «time in variousdifcourles of future matters?” From this ‘tis plain he never look’d into the original, or underftood not a word of it. He ‘was mifled by the French which he as little undesftood s la plas part jb slayiet fre drvrsjngemen de cen gu lietdevena ears Mattes. ur more wrecched fill is what follows: racrrus reprefents the Romans difcourfing, during the decline of Aucust us, concern. ng the next fucceflors in view, aGripra Pofthumus and rinz- nus, and makes them fy of Livia the Emprels; accedere matrem anulicbri impotentia: ferviendim fevine, ée. His mother of 2 vio~ * Tene and imperious nature according to the fx themfelves, fubjected “to the flavery of a woman,” ‘This is abfolue jargon and’ non- fenfe, tho’ the author followed che French as well as he coulds gi (Tibere) a une mere imperienfe & violente, felon la coutume du fexe, 4 laquelle il faudra obeir en efélaves, Well may he be faid to follow the French blindly; and lef is the wonder that he adopts his Galli cifms where he happens to underftand him. hen DRusus, the fon of TIBERTUS, entred the camp of the feditious Legions in Pannonia, and the mutinous foldiery were ga- thered round him; racttus makes a charming and ftrong deferip- tion of their behaviour, with the feveral vicifficudes of their paffions which fhifted fteangely according as they dreaded his perfon and au= thoriey,DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. 3 thority, or recalled their grievances and furveyed theit own numbers and ftrength; and he concludes the whole according t his cuftom, with a fine reflection: Ili, quotiens ocalos ad roultitudinem retulerant, coc sracalenis repre 5 runtion, fo Cefn trepidare. Mar= mur incertum, atrox clamor, & repente quies ; diverfis animorum mo- tibus, pavebant, terrebantque. This is all pretty well ranflated by 1a noussaye, I fhall only quote the laft claule or refleétion: par des anawcvemens tut diferens, ils promient Pepowvant, cs, le danoins 2 and this I quote only to thew how impotently the Englih Tranflator hhangs by the French phrafe and takes it literally: “ by their different « motions,-fays he, they gave and took terror in their turns.” Ts not this pithy and founding? There are numbers of fuch ins fiances both as to language and ftrength; infomuch that I have been fometimes tempted to think it not to be DRYDEN’s: but I have many sffarincss of its being his,” take i for grand it was a jobb for the Bookfellers carelefaly performed by one, who wanted no capa- city, but only pains or encouragement to have done it much better, perhaps very well. Se. IV. Of the aft Tranflation of the fecond Amal. HE next Annal is cranflated by another hand, left negligently, but with fall tafte and vigour ; no refemblance of the original, where in every fentence almoft there occur furprizing images and tums, which no where appear in the'Tranilation. "Tis not the fire of zacttvs, but his embers, quenched with Englith words cold and Gothick. “Let any one reid) particularly the two fpceches of an nt1- wrus and MAROBOD UvS to their different armies juft before they engaged, cap. 45. and 46. and he will find thet bewieen 7 acrtus and his Tranilator, there is juft as much difference as beeween a liv= ing foul and a cold carcafe. "Yet the lifelefs Tranflation of this Annal compared with that of the third by a different hand, is an able per formance. Set. V. Of the laf Tranflation of the third Anal. HIE other in truth is wretched beyond belief; ‘tis below drollery, and a fort of a middle between bad fenfe ‘and good nonfenie. Tact tus fays of the arrival of the fleet, which brought acriP- PINA from Afia with her husband's funeral urn, and her children now fatherlets; clafis paulatio fuccefit, non alacri ut adfolee remigio, fed cuntlis ad tiftitiam compofitis, An. 3c. 1.“ The fleet (ys ‘the “Tranflator) came in, not rowing briikly ‘as they ufed w do, but « lowly, and with forrow in their countenances.” “A tranflation this worthy of one who could make Tacitus fay elfewhere, “ pRu- « sus lefe the City to enquire his fortune:” Would nor one think that he went to fome remote country to confule a cunning man? Or meant the Tran{lator to joke upon the religion and folemnities of the Romans? The words of tacit Us which he thus perverts, or racher quite drops, are, Drufis urbe egroffis repetendis anjpiciis: © pausus went « without the gates, to repeat the formality of the aupives.” Tacrivs at the end of his difcourfe upon laws, fiys, Cefar Aue gifts, porentie fecurus, que Triunviratu jufferat abolevit, deditque x ‘jars,4 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. jura, quis pace & Principe uteremur : acriora ex eo vincla, indité cup todes, ci lege Papia Poppea premiis induéti, ut fi cre. fed altins penctrabsnt, (cuftedes, feil.) Urbemgue & Ttaliam, & quod tfguam civinn, corripuerant, multorumque extifi flatus;’ & terror omnibus intentabatur, nifi Tiberins featuendo remedio, cc. Now obferve the force, and elegance, and truth, with which this is rendered by the Tranflacors © avGUSTUS CESAR being fetled in his authority, « heabolithed chofe things he commanded in the Triumvirate, and gave new laws to be obferved in time of peace, and under a Monarch. And that they might be the better kept he appointed fome to look after them:" [2s if the laws had been 2 flock of fheep} “ The law « papra ropres provided, ¢>c. But the informers went farcher, « not only in the City, bur thro’ all Italy, where any citizens were, « ruined many families and frightened all, To remedy which rx “ pertus,” Oc. A little farther Tacitus fays, adverfis animis areptin, quod fio Candi fer janis dafinaretor: pale no- bilitatem familie videbantur, fufpettumque jam nimie pei Sejanum altro extilife. “ There were’ (lays the Trinflacor) great difcontents ‘upon cLauprus’s fon’s being to marry sey aNuss’s daughter as a difparagement to him, [to what him? seyanus was the laft « named] Bue seyanus whofe ambition was faipeéted was much « exalted upon it.” "Tactrus difcourfing of the revolt of FLonUs and sacRovin, and reprefenting the fentiments of the people upon that and other alarms, fays, itcrepabant Tiberium, quod tm tanto rerum motu, Tix ellis accufatorum imfummeret operam. "An Fullinm Sacrovirum majef tatis crimine rewm im Senatn fore? Extitiffe tandem viros qui cru- eatas epiftolas armis cobiberent: miferam pacent vel bello bene mutari: Tanto impenfius in fecuritatem compofitus, neque loco, neque valte mutato, Jed ut folitsom per illos dies egit: alvitudine animi, an compererat modica effe & valgatis leviora. Hear how this is wanflaced. Blaming “ r1- + sER1us for employing himfelf in reading informers accufations “ where there was fo great commotions. What, faid they, bave the Senate found JUL1Us SACROVIR guilty of treafon? Some have hhad the courage to fupprefs by arms the bloody libels of a Tyrants ‘war is a good change fF a milrable peace. Bue he nelther chang place nor countenance; affecting to fhew he was not afraid, ee ther thro’ courage, or that he knew things to be le chan they were reported.” Was ever good fence fo vilely burlefqued? were one to ftudy to ridicule Tacitus, what more miferable tuff, voidl of all fenfe and found, could one make him uner? Te puts me in mind of a notable complement in an addrefs from a learned Society to the late King; “ We perceive that you are one that is not afraid « that pofterity fhould make mention Of yous” or words of he like force and beauty. Neither have T picked ove thefe paffiges invi dioufly, as the worft: I have read the whole Annal, and T know no part of it better done. Set. VI. Of the laf! Tranflation of the fourth, fifth, and Suet Annal. TH fourth, fifth, and fixth Annals are done by another hand, and poorly done. In him you find little of the true mean- 1 ingDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. 5 ing of TactTus; of his fpirit and manner nothing at all but fre~ quent deviations from his fenfe, and even from all nf. Tacitus in the Charaéter of seyanvs, fayss intus fimma apifeendi libido, ejnf qiie caufa modo largitio & lusxus, fepius induftria ac vigilantia, band fines vos, quotin: parando regio finguntur who but the Trent Jator would have difcovered, that by thele words ractrus meant to declare, that “ virtues are as dangerous as vices, when they « meet with a turbulent fpirit afpiring to Empire?” Yee the Trani Jation of this paffage is as juft as that of many others. Sometimes he drops whole phrafes and paffages, fuch as he knows not what to make of and ofiner lofes out of fight the meaning of otheis however plain. Tacxeus lays, a ries furan in Agrippina exit inipert, Claudia Pulchra fobrina gjus poftulatur, accufante Domitio Afro. Is recens pra- tua, modicus dignationis, & quoguo facinore properus clarefiere, crimen Iinpacitia, adaterum Ferniuon, seneptia m Print pom ox devotions objer dabat, «Fo begin the ruin of AcRIPPINA, [how inpid and delec- « tive !] Domirius are lately Pretor [not a word of modicus dig- 1 nétionis) and ready to engage in any thing to gain hime credit [obs « ferve the force!] accufes CLAUDIA PULCRA of adultery With ff rumastus [dhe word: fobrina gj, which explain the ret, and the * word pidicitia, one of the articles of the charge, are omitted] and « Have a defign on the life of that Prince with her charms and perfon: ‘What Prince? Furw russ was none; T1BERTU s has not been mene toned in feveral pages: ‘tis nonfenfe; and “ a defign on his life with ‘her charms and perfon,” multiplies the nonfenfe. Waar follows fares not much beter: Agrippina femper atrox, tum c& periculo propinguee accenfa, pergit ad Tiberium. © Acrie- “pina always of a violent temper, ‘but at prefent extremely en- “raged, runs immediately to TIBERIUS, crt.” He drops periculo Propinguia, as ulele& words. Tacrrus fays, that amongtt other reafons affigned why tr BER1us retired from Rome, fome alledged the authority affumed by ‘his mother; who having perfuaded auGustus, contrary to his in~ clinations, to poftpone GERMANIcUS and adopt TIBERIUS, did afterwards upbraid troeRius with { fignal a ferviée, and’ even challenged che Empire ap her owm: idgue dimenfis principiis, trium legionum manus offentabant : dein femiruto wale, haba fa, accie jam religuie eonfeif intligedantars| medio campi albentia offa, ut fugerant, ut refiterant, disjelia vel aggerata : adjaccant fregmina tlie, eqiorimgue artes, ‘Giowal truntis arborven antefixa ora; lucis propinguis barbara ara, apud quas tribunos at pri- mors ordinum centuriones maétaverant. Cladis ¢jus fuperfites pugname aut vincula elapfi, referebant, bic cecidiffe legates, illic raptas aguilas 3 primum ubi ulus Varo adattum, ubi infelica dextra, & fio itu mor tem invenerit ; quo tribtmali concionatus Arminius 3 quot patibula capti- ‘vis, quae ferobes ; utque fignis c& aguilis per fiperbiam inluferit. Igitur Romanus qui aderat'exercitus, fextum poft cladis annum, trium Legio- num ofa, mullo nofiente alicnas religuias an fuorum’ humo tegeret, omnes ‘ut conjunttos, wt confanguineos, autta in hoftem ird, marti fimub & infenfi condebent, An. 1. ¢. 61, 62. Hee is eloquence and defeription! What can be added, what can be taken away? His ftile is every where warm and pathetick, and he never informs the underitanding, or entertains the imagination, but he kindles the affeétions. You are not only convinced by his fenti- ments, but governed by them, charm’d with them, and grow zea- Jous for them. ‘This is a trial of the power and fill of a writer: this the drift and glory of perfuafion and eloquence ; and this che r2- lent of racrrus. To difplay Tyrants and Tyranny he chufes che ftrongeft words and figures: facinora ac flagitia fia ipft quoque in fipplicium verterant. Si Pecludaniun tyremnovuna rocites, poll adj linatis Cm bus. quando ut corpora verberibus, ita favitia, ibidine, males confultis, animus dila- eves: quppe Tiberian uo forte, non oliudines, provegebant, qin tormenta pears foalgee ip penes fateretur, dn, 6. 6.6. Tr was his bofinels and defign to lay open the iniquity and hor- rors of their mif-rules eva juffa, contionas accufationes, fallaces anni citias, perniciers innocentium. ~ You fee the bloody hands of the execu= tioners, Rome fwimming in che blood of her own Citizens, and all the rage of unrelenting ‘Tyranny ; tmdantem per domos fangninems, aut manus carvificum. You fee the bands of accufers let loofe, nay hired to deftroy, and breathing death and exiles fevitiam oratorum accifan tiones minitantinm : delatores per pramia eicithantur. You fee the barbarous outrages of an infolent and mercilels foldiery s cunéfa fan Euine, ferro, flammifque mifeent. You fee madien béar rule, thefe mad rilers governed and made worfe by Daves, villains, and harlotss yetall thef¢ monfters adored, their perfons, wickedne, and even their fury fanétified 5 iniquity exalted, virtue trod under foot, laws perverted, righteoufne&S and truth depreffed and banithed; every worthy man. doomed to feaffolds, rocks, and dungeons; the bafeft of all men pro~ nouncing that doom, and tnaking a prey or a facrifice of the befts fear 3 andDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, 13 and diftruft and treachery prevailing; the deftroyers themfelves haunt= td with the perpetual dreal of deftruction, at lat overtaken by ic, yec feldom leaving better in their room. Att thefe melancholy feenes you fee expofed in colours ftrong and moving: the thoughts are great, the phrafe elevated, and the words chafte and few: ‘ti all a pi€ture: whatever he fays you fee, and all chat you fee affests you. It puzzles one co give inftances, becaufe there fare fo many in every page, How many affecting images are there in thefe few words near the beginning of the Grit Anal; Quotuf: auilie vegans qi rempublicam “idifit? Flow moumfol too snd ex- preffive, yet how plain are thefe which immediately follow! [gi tur verfo civitatis atu, nibil afquam prifei & integri moris; as well as thofe a litde before s rebus novis autti tute & prafentia, quam vetera & periculofa mallent ? Wars what thunder and vehemence does ARMINIUS roule the Cherufcans, his country-men, to arms, when his wife became a captive to the Romans, and his child a lave tho’ yet unborn? Egregium patrem! naira inmperatorem ! fortem exercitum ! quorum tot manus uname aurea ecexeyint «fb tes Legions, stim legate proc non enim fe proditione, wegae adverfus feminas gravidas, {ed palam ad- ‘verfies armatos bellum trattare. Cerni adbouc Germanorum in lucis fig- na Romana. Coleret Stgeftes vittam ripam, redderet filio facerdosium, &c. Tn how few words does he comprife a long ad perplexed de- bate in the council held by cERMANIcus, how to proceed with the mutinous Legions! Augebat metum gnarus ( fuperior exercitus) Romane Seditionis, & fi omitteretur ripa, invafurus boftis, ac fi auxilia & facie cadverfiams abjiedentes Legiones armarentur, eivile bellum fifeipi : pericilofa feveritas, fagitiofa largitio : feu nibil milti, fox omnia concederentur, in ancipiti Refpublica. Igitur, &c. An. x. Se&. IL. Further inflances of the jnfinefi of bis Genius, and of bis reat Thoughts. ELS rots of the pereeuions of exmacarezcus, with his at words and amiable Charaéter, makes a fine Tragedy; does the Death of sen Eca; fo docs that of the Confpirators againit Ne Ro. ‘With what magnanimity and calmnef docs suLPITIUS ASPER the Centurion anfwer the brutal Tyrant, when afked, why he hi conthired againtt his life? non aliter tor flagitiis cjus fubrveniri potui ‘With what filence and firmnefs did the’ Conful vest 1x us die? tho" he was weRo's old companion and friend, and unconcerned in the confpiracy, and no crime nor accufer againft him: vigens adhue balneo infertur, calsda aqua merfatur, nulla editavace qua fe miferaretur. ‘How beautiful, how deep, and jutt’are his obfervations upon human nature! Molle in calamitate drimani animi: mobiles ad fiperflitioners percalfe femel mentes: cupidine ingenit bumani lubentius obfeira credi : ne- queriorim fpernendns, mii quod panpertatem preecipuum malorum oredebat. Virvorum sit magna admiratio, sta cenficra deficilis: candem virtutem ad- miranibus cui srafecbantur : manebat admivatio viri &> fama, fed ode- rant. Beneficia co nfgue Leta fit dum videntur exfolvi poffe; abi multum anteceflire, pro gratia ‘odiu redditur. Exatto per ficlera die, noviffinsum malorim fut Letitia. Ramore populi, qui neminern fine aemsitlo finit s minore “fpe venice, crefeit vincalurn feeleris: poplus no E ‘vari14 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. vara rerum cupions pavidufque: vnlgns eadem pravitate interfectira infeltatur, qua viventem foverat. How matterly and profound are thofe upon Government! Primas dominandi [pes in ardio: bi fis ingrelfus adeffe fiudia & minifiros. ‘Arduum coder loci potentiam cr concordiam effe. ” Potentia cautis con- Silis tatins oabetur. ~ Major longinguo reverentia. Principibus pracipua rerum ad famam dirigenda. Infociabile regaum: cupido regni fratre & filia potior. Scaurum cui implacabilius iraféebatur (Tiberius) filentio tra- mijit. Intelligebantur artes, fed pars obfeqiui in eo, ne deprebenderentar. dni fianmna fortina equius quod validius. Thefe 1 do not quote as the fineft Thoughts in aciTus, but only fuch as occur co me. He paints Thoughts and Faculties, Men and Paffions, Tyranny and Slaves. His imagination is boundle&, yet never out-runs his judgments his wifdom is folid and vaft, yet always enlivened by his imagina- tion. His defigning is great, his drawing juft, his colouring beautiful. See the defcription of a Peftilence at Rome, An. 16. ¢. 13. Domus conporibus exxanimis, itinera funcribas complebantia. Non fexus, non etas periculo vacua. Servitia perinde ac ingena plebes raptim extingui, inter conjngum &» Uiberorum lamenta, qui dum affident, dum deflent, frepe codem rogo cremabantur. Euitum Senatorumgue interitus quamvis pro- mifeui, minus flbiles evant, tanguam communi mortalitate fevitians Prine cipis prevenirent. Under'a Tyrant, 2 Plague was.a bleffing. Wuo but racirus could have faid es he does of the antient Germans: Argentum c& aurum propitii an irati Dit mgaverint, dim bite? or that afterwards of the fame people: mira diverjitate natura, cum iidem homines fie ament inertidm, quietem oderint ? or that of the Sitones, a particular Clan of Germans, who were under the Government of a Woman; in tantum non modo a libertate, fed etiam a Jfervitute degenerant ? Thele are fach inftances of difcernment, fagacity and happy expreliion, as few Writings can thew. By chem and a thoufand more, ‘tis ‘manifeft that Tacitus faw every thing in a true and uncommon light: and his refleétions are like mitrours where human nature and government are exhibited in their proper fize and colours. T cannot help thinking that to bea bold and gallant Saying of noro- cALUS (0 the Roman General, who refufed him a manfion for hin felf and his people in the vacant Lands of Frizin; and thence provoked him to implore the Sun and Stars: quaft coram interregabat, ‘vellentne contueri inane folum? potius mare fuperfunderent adverfus terrarum creptores. Deeffe nobis tervam in gua vivamus; in qua moriamur now potift. What a fublime thought {s that of his concerning the Fenni- ans? “The moft favage and wretched race this of all the wild Germans; their cloathing, fkins ; their bed, the earth; their food, the gralss defti- tute of horfes, hovfes, and arms; the thick branches of trees their only thelter againft tempefts and the ravening beafts: Here they find cradles and proteétion for their babes ; here live the old men, and hi- ther refort the young: yet this miferable life they prefer to that of fweating at the plough, and to the pains of rearing houfes: they thirft not after the fortunes of others; they have no anxiety about preferv= ing their own; fo that they hoped for nothing that was not theirs, and having nothing of their own, could fear to lof nothing: feeuri (ays Tacit us) adverfiis homines, fecuriadverfus deos, rem dificillzmare adfecuti fimt, ut ills ne veto quidem ops fit. 4 Sea.DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, us Sc&.IV. The Morality of Tacitus, and his fpirit vir tuous and humane. AS obvious too as his other great qualities, is his love of Mankind, of Civil Liberty, and of private and publick Virtue. His Book is a great tablature of the uglinefs and horrors of Tyranny ; of the feandal and infamy of fervitude and debafement; of the lovelinefs of virtue and a free fpirit; of the odioufnels of vice and fycophancy. Such was his {ympathy for the fufferings and fevere lot of the Romans wo der rrpeRtus, that he is glad of a digreffion from home, and keeps thence as’long as he can, to relieve his foul from attending to domeftick evils: duabus affatibus gefta conjumxi, quo requicfeeret ani ‘mus a domeftcis mals. He grieves for the flvith fpart, (or the fhupid tamenefs of the Romans under the Tyranny of the detcftable NERO: So much Roman blood wantonly thed by that monfter, is a load upon his foul and oppreffes it with forrow: patientia fervilis, tantumque Sangins don prditum, fatigant anion, & mafitia reftringant, Te delights in good times, in publick Liberty and virtuous Reigns, and delights to praife them fuch as thofe of NERVAand TRAJAN} tara tenporum felsitate, abi fetire que vei, > que fentias dcere Ficet. Tn what a different ftrain does he fpeak of the foregoing Em- perors? Nobilitas, opes, omiffi geftiqne bonores pro crimine, &> ob vir tutes certiffimsm exitium. Fle glories however that the worft and moft faithlefS times produced many inftances of friendfhip and generous fi- delity: nom tanten adeo virtutum flerile foculum, nt non c bora exenipla prodiderit.. He is fond of a virtuous Charaéter ; as that of taseo: Labeo incorrapta ibertate&» 0b id fame ciebrator: Gach 26 that of nemt- puss func ego Lepidum temporibus illis, gravem & fapientern virum fuiffe comperio: nam plaraque ab fievis adulationibus aliorays, in melius flexit : and’ that of %. p1s0 chief Pontiff; sllns fervilis feutentie ponte anc~ tor. How amiable are the Death and laft words of 1. aRRUNTIUS, ike thofe of a Patriot and a Prophet! But how vile every where, and even miferable and infecure, are Tyrants, Flatterers and the Minifters of Iniquicy? What he fays of the firft I have quoted above: and againft the other hear his honelt indignation: tempore infetla, &_adulatione fordida fuere. Fedaque & nimia cenferent. Adulasio perinde anceps fe ‘nulla, & ubi nimia of. Delatores genus bominura ia exitinm publictin repertum, pernicieo aliis, ac paftremo fibi invenere. What an odious infe& is 'Varanrus; what a horrible villain r1¢nLurmus; whae infamous fycophants are Cairo and vireLLrus; and what a Shocking parricide is sere NUS, the accufer of his fither and a gene~ ral acculer? Se&.V. The Stile of Tacitus, how pertivent and happy: his Obfeurity, a charge of the moderns oily. BESIBES ie grader and diy of hie phe, he i remark able for a forprifing breviry : bur let his words be ever {0 few, his thought and matter are’ always abundant, His expreffion is like the drefs of rorpra sanina, deferibed by himfelf; velata parte oris ne fatiareeapechum, vel que fie decebat, Fle farts the Idea, ad leaves the16 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, the Imagination to purfue it: the fample he gives you is fo fine, that you are prefently curious to fee che whole piece, and then you have Your thare in the merit of the difcovery; a compliment which fome able Writers have forgot t pay to their Renders, T cannot help think ing Mr. Locke a great deal too wordy, and that the plainnefs of | propofitions, as well as their ftrength, is often wealrned by an nation over-diffafe. Dr. T111otsow’s fiile is much better, indeed very fine, but takes up too much room: ‘tis like he chofe it as fit for popular Difeourfess fince ’tis plain from the vivacicy of his Parts, and the many fine turns found in his Writings, that he could have been very fententious. Thefe two great names are by no man reverenced more than I reverence them, and without malignity I mention them, as I do that of the worthy Lord cL ARENDON, whofe language is weighty, and grave, but encumbred and even dark'ned, I might fay far'ned, with multiplication of words. | Sr ri eis a part of Genius, and tacr Tus had one peculiar to him~ elf, a fort of a languge of his own, one fit to exprefS the amazing vigour of his fpirit, and that redundancy of refections which for force. and frequency are to be equalled by no Writer before or fince. Be- fides, the courfe and fluency of his Narration, is almoft every where broken by perfons whom he introduces fpeaking and debating; info- much that a great part of his Hiftory comes our of the mouths of other people, and in expreffions fuitable to their feveral Characters. °Tis plain too that the older he grew, the more he prun’d and curtailed hiis Stile; for his Hiftories are much more copious and flowing than his Annals: and thus what has been by others reckoned a fault, was in him the effeét of his judgment. Neither were his Works intended for the populace but for fuch as governed States, or fuch as attended to the conduét of Governors; nor, were the Stile and Latin ever fo plain, would they ever be underitood by fuch as do not. As PLUTARCH came to underftand the Roman Tongue by underftanding their Af fairs; TacrTUs is to be known by knowing human Nature, and the clements and mechanifm of Government, Ir is madnef§ to with for the manner and redundancy of Liv ¥ in the Writings of tacttus. ‘They wrote at different times, and of Governments differently formed. T ac1rws had tranfaétions of another fort to defcribe, and other forts of men ; (for by Government men are changed) ; the crooked arts of policy, the falfe {miles of power, the jealouly, fury and wantonnefs of Princes uncontrolled; the flattery ‘of the Grandes; the havock made by the accufers, and univerfal de- bafement of all men: matter this chiefly for reflection, complaints and rebuke! Nobis in arto, c> inglorins labor matte urbis'res, ee. Livy had another field and more ‘feope; the Hiftory of a Commonwealth rifing, forming, and conquering ; perpetual viétories and matter of pa~ negyrick; and his pen flowed like the profperity of the State: Ingentia bella, expugnationes urbinan, fufos captofque rages, diftor dias Confulum ad» ‘verfus Trobaines, agravias friementariafque leges, plebis & optimatinn cer tamina, libero egreffit memorabat, Au. 4. 33. Doubtiefs he could have adopted another Stile if he would, perhaps the ftile of uivy, as 1 think this very quotation thews: but t Ac 1T us had another view and different topicks; nor would another ftile, the exfy and numerous ftile of Livy, have anfwered his purpole. I fancy too thae no body who knows Tacit US, would with him to have written in a ftrain dif 3 ferentDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. i ferent from what he has done. There are charmis in his manner and words, as well as in his Thoughts, and he wears the only drefs that would become him. Tr is amazing that this obfcurity of his hould never be mentioned by any of the Antients who mention him, Ic is a faule difcovered by the Moderns, cho, in my opinion, common t him with other Claificad Writers; nor bas he puzzled the Commentators more than HORACE, CICERO, PLINY, sALLUST, Oc. His Latin is truly pure and claf fical; he has few or no words which had not been ufed by approved writers, nor does he often give new ideas to old words. If his Works were nd wife obfeure to men of fenfe when he compofed them, as we have no reafon to think; ‘tis infolence and folly in us to reckon his obfcurity a fault. "Tis a dead language he writes in, and he wrote near feventeen hundred years ago. When racitus the Emperor direéted copies of his Books co be placed in all the Libraries, and for their better prefervation, co be tranferibed ten times every year, he ordered no Grammarian to explain his abftrufe places; tho” the Hi torian had been then dead near two hundred years. Great Writers are in their manner and phrafé a Lal and Authority to themfelves 5 and not confined to the Rules that fill the heads or grammars of finall wits and pedants. MrLton has a ftile of his own, and rules for writing of his own; and who that taftes his genius would with him more fathionable and exaé, or to have writ otherwife. Tam even pleafed with the jacrings of MILTON’s phrafes. Bur here I chiefly mean his poetical ftyle. OF his prof I thall make men- tion hereafter. ‘Wun the fubject varies fo thould the file: that of tactrus is marvelloufly fuited to his fubject and defign had it been more fa~ miliar, ic had neither been fo juft nor fo beautiful. ‘To me nothing is more fo than the manner of TACITUS: his words and phrafes are ad- mirably adapted to his macter and conceptions, and make impreffions fudden and. wonderful upon the mind of man. ‘The doleful condi tion of the Emperor vitztnrus, when deferted by his fortune and all men, is ftrong and tragical as imagination and words can make it. Zorvet folitudo & tacentes loci; tontat clanfa; inborvrefeit vacuis s Sofufue mifero evrore, c& pudenda latebra femet occultans, & Tribimo ‘protrabitur': inthe pone iexgum manus ; laniata efie, fedum fpeéta~ culum duccbatur, moultis increpantibus: the adds, ridlo inlachrymante 3 and the reafon he gives for this, is judicious and fine: deformitas exitus mifericordiam abftulerat. What follows is in the fame affecting ftrain 5 as are the firit fenfible approaches of his calamity. itellus, capta aurbe, Aventinam in domum uxoris cellula defertur, ut fi diem latebra vitavifftt terracinam—perfugeret : dein mobilitate ingenii, &» quae na tura pavoris of, cum onmia metuents, prafentia maxtme difplicerent, in palatininregreditan, coafttan defertumgue 5 dilapfts etiam infims forvarum, ‘aut occurfinn ejas declinantibns. Wuo would blame racttus for a paucity of words, when he conveys fo many images info few? babitas anim fy ut af amum facious auderent pauci, plures vellent, onmes pateroitur?- Where can there be a happier expreflion than that concerning Gaus a, when the Empire was already rent from him, and he knew it not? Zgnaras interim Galba cy facris intentus, fatigabat alieui jam imperis deos. When or Ho, proéiaimed Emperor by no more thait three and twenty F Soldiers,18 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. Soldiers, was advancing to che Camp, cb paucitate falutantium trepi dus; the behaviour and acquiefcence of thofe he met in his way are accounted for with furprising brevity and june: alt confienti, ple rique miracule; pars clamare &gladis, pas fletio, anim ex evcaty fugnpuir. ‘Thee is infinite pathos in what he fay of the Omens and Phznomena, which were obferved during the Civil Wars, and the Strife of Princes : calo terraque prodigia, & fulminum monitus, & futuro- rum prafagia Leta, triftia, ambigta, manifefia. What canbe more tolemn, founding and fublime, even in LUCRETIUS? When NERO was dif gracing himfelf and the Roman State, by debafing his perfon to that of a Playcr upon the publick Stage ; how pathetically is the behaviour and fpi- ritofBuRRuS defcribed in a few words ; adflabat Burrus merens & Tandans. Se&. VI. A general Charatter of his Works. HERE is no end of fpecimens and examples: ’ts all over a wonderful Book, full of wifdom, full of virtue; of aftonifhing firokes of genius and fuperior fenfe. Yer he feems not to value him- felf upon his great thoughts; the fineft things fall from him like com- mon things; he fays them naturally, and never dwells upon one, be~ caufe he has always more co utter. When he has ftruck your imagi- pation and you want to ftand {till and ruminate, you have no time; he draws or rather forces you forward, and the next thought ftrikes you as much; fo does the third, and all of them; and you go-on read- ing and wondering, yet withing for leifure to ponder and recollect: But he gives you none; for from firft to laft the prefent refleétion is always the beft, *Tis all of it eternal good fenfe, and will bear an eternity of time and cenfure. "Tis no wile akin to your pretty trifles of humour and fancy, that juft tickle the imagination and go no deeper, and pleafe foraday. His beauties are folid, and upon the ftricteft examination difcover no paint or tinfel; his wifdom and inftruction are inexhau- ible, and his works confequently an everlafting feaft. I have feen fe~ veral performances of tolerable length and notable reputation, all de~ rived from fo many fhort fentences of tT acxT Us, well wiredrawn and paraphrafed: he is indeed a fund for Writers who have difcretion and Rile, but wane depth. ‘There is a fine thort Charaéter of Tacxtus in owEN’s Epigrams; Veracem fecit probitas, natura fagacem, Obfturum brevitas te, gravitajque brevem. Bpigr. 157. Sc&.VI. Tacitus vindicated from the imputation of deriving events from counfels too Jubtle and malevolent, E js accufed too of over much fubtlety and refining, and of I J deriving the aétions of his Princes, even the moft innocent and plauiible, from crooked defigns and a bale heart; and of imputing to Craft and Politicks what was often no more than the effeét of inclina- tion and paffion, A charge in my opinion intircly groundlefs: 7 acI~ {Tus defribes things and men a they are, (news Particulars ating nprees ably to their charaéters, their fituation and views; and reprefents coun- 2 felsDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. 19 fels flowing from fach fources only as were likely t0 produce them. Lec us examine his reign of t13en1us for which he is chiefly cen- fured. ‘The firft feat of this reign, was the murder of acRirra, the grandion of aucustus. Tipenaus ordered it, and denied it, and threatned_ the Centurion who was the executioner, that he fhould an- fwver for ic to the Senate. ‘This is the account given by Tacitus, and the fame is given by sueronrus; the former adds, that it was done from jealoufy of State, and for the removal of a Rival: and what other reafon is to be given? for he had fhewn how improbable ic was that the fame had been ordained by avcustvs, tho’ this was pretended, as su sTONTUS too teftifies. Nor wasany thing more natu ral than his apprehenfions of cz maNrcus, 2 young Prince popu- lar abose all men, and at the head of a great army, who wanted him for their Emperor in the room of r1perius. This is matter of fat and well attefted: Now where is the extreme refining, to re~ prefent T1BERIUS as contriving to remove fuch a dangerous man, one Of fuch good pretences and powerful intereft, firft from his faithful Le~ gions, and then from home, for evers tho” at the fame time he flat~ tered him, extolled him, and heaped honours upon him? All. this is bur the common road of fuch Courts, when they have the fame de~ figns and fears. Is it not ufual in Turkey to load a Bahaw with Im= perial Prefents, to beftow upon him fome great Government, and to murder him before he arrive there ? Is not power a jealous and artificial thing, full of fears and wiless and is not rrBERIuS allowed by all men to have been a Prince of infinite diftruit, craft, and cruelty? What meant he by making great men Governors of Provinces, and yet never fuffering them to ‘0 thither for a courfé of years, nor even out of Rome, tho’ they Hill held the name? What meant he by continuing others in the ace tual poffeffion of Provinces for a long tract of years, nay frequently to the end of their life? Was it not his diftruft of the former; and that as to the latter, he could not make a fafer choice, and there~ fore was afraid to choofe any? Yet tractus far from diving inco his Politicks in this matter, or being fabtle and dogmatical about it, gives you the fentiments of others: alii taedio novee curse, fesnel placita pro wternis fervaviffe: Quidam, invidia, ne plures frucreatinr. Stmt qui exiftimant, ut calldim ers ingeninnt, ita auxin judicinm 3 neque enim emiinentis virintes feétabatur, c» rurfiom vitia odevat: ex optimis peri- culum fibiz a peffinis dedecus publicuns metnebat. Never was any thing fiid more impartial, never any thing more juft and folid. From thedoubles, and even contradidtions that poffefs the heart of man, the conduct of men will be perplexed and contradiétory. Its allowed that alien appe- tens, fid profiujits, vas a jult branch in theCharager of CAT IL INE, and is reckoned one of the beautiesand ftrong places in 8 aL 1. sr. Without peradventuye, as beauriful and ftrong and juft, is this of racrrus: neque eminentis virtutes fiélabatur, &» rurfum vitia odevat ; the reafon to0 afligned for ic, is equally juft and fines ex optimus periculum (ibs 3 a puffinis, dedecus’ publicum ‘metnebat. Is not this accounting irom the principles of nature and felf prefervation for the conduét and politicks of r1mnx1us? Many of his ations and meafures, recount ed by Tacitus, are fapported by collateral evidence, by suxTo- TONLUS, PLINY, DION cassrus, and others: many by them omixtedzo DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, omitted are by him related, with fuch probability, and fo perfeétly re femble the reft of his conduét, that we muft deny TrBERIUS to Ihave been fach a Prince as all men agree he was, or believe the account of him given by TACITUS. Hs diffimulation was conftant and notorious. In the very be= ginning, while he confidently aéted as Emperor, with all the pomp and might of Majefty, he openly refuled the Empire : Principatum (ys sUBTONTUs) quamuis neque occupare conféflim, neque agere dit bitaffet, vi & fpecie dominationis alfuanpta, dics tamen recufavit impu- dentiffimo aniiao: Such fevere language as this is not given him by Tacirus. Dozs racirvs reprefent him as hating and fearing the great Romans and illuftrious Senators? And do not other Hifforians ; do not the facts themfelves prove it? Was he not continually deftroying them, till they were almoft all deftroyed ? OF the twenty Grandes particularly (principum Civitatis) whom he defired of the Senate, for his Confidents and Counfellors, he left not above two or three alive 5 all che reft were by treachery and feigned crimes cut off by him; Ho- rum omninm vise duos aut tres incolumes praftitit : Cateres, alinm alia de canfa perculit, fays suETONAUs. Is TACITUS therefore t00 re~ fined, in difcovering what faéts demonftrate ? Is it not suzTonius too who fays, Multa fpecie grevitatis, ac morum corrigendorum, fed mmagis nature obteniperans, fe'be & atrociter fattitavit ? © Tt was ufual «with. him, to do ations exceeding barbarous and mercilefs, yet « all under thew of Juftice and the reforming of Manners; but in re~ « ality from the inftigation of his own cruel fpicit. " Is suzTonius alfo over fubtle, the Fliftorian in the world the moft plain, and feldom aiming ata reflection? For what reafon did he fuffer the boundaries of the Empire to be invaded, and Provinces to be feized by the Barba tians, bur from fear of trufting any great Officer with the conduct of the War? ‘Tuar he affeéted to derive all power from the Senate, yet left them but the fhadow of authority, and was even jealous of that fhadow, is ficredly true. It was even natural; and wanted no refining, to difeover it, Did not cromweEL do ‘the fame? And are not all men willing to have their power, however lawlef, legitimated, and che odium of their aéts of violence transfer'd upon others? Will any one fay, that the Senate liked his aéts of Sovereignty, his frequent impeachments of their Members, often the beft and moft innocent, and his obliging them to condemn, (for he chat dares not refule is forced to confent) and his leaving every particular in continual dread of being the nexts which was a farther motive in each to hatred and complaifance? He Kew he had ear’ their hate, eputante fbi publican odin Ie ic Tikely now chat he loved them, or that there was or could be fince- rity or confidence on cither fide? What did_his retirement in the Mle of Caprex, with his perpetual abfence from Rome, infer, but continual diftruft of the Senate and People? Juft before he expired he was haftening from a ramble upon the Continent, back to his Des, Non tomers quidguam nif x ato anfiruss wo cle meatures of vengeance againft the Senate, for that he had sead in their aéts, chat they had difcharged certain perfons accufed, though he had writ to the Senate, that they were only named by the informer: Pro con tempto fe habitum fremens, repetere Capreas quoque modo deftinavit, om 1 tomer,DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS 4% demere, Gre. This too is related by sui Po sexu s, “Tei etcdia thé: ‘nate were to all thef Tyrants a conftant mark of jealdulf andl hiaté;'Afid fome of chem, particularly Cau reus A ahd si G bad, patbal to extirpate that venerable Affembly, by fiiurdering the whdlé Body * Se&t. VII. More Proof’ of the Candonr and Peracity of Tacitus. ACITUS makes rrzrrvs no worle than’ he wis, Héslhy fo bad. ‘That he doomed almoft his whole fattilly to exile" fe. thine, or thé executioner ; that his cruel fufpicion and diftruft éxténié even to women, even to his mother, nay to childred,.relaciods' atid firangers, to names, nobility, and all men, is undeniablé.” Nor does ractrus relate any part of the conduét ot politicks of TiBER TUS, but what evidently refults either from the nature of the man, or the nature of his power. He frequently {peaks well of thar Pringé s tiid ill he could not evoid dpeakingy if he fpoke of him-er all Nlay ie whole fixth chapter of the fourth Annal, is a finé panegytick vipon the moderation and wifdom of his Government for eight years before: publica negotia, & privatorum maxima, apud patres tratlabdntsst « d, baturque primoribus differere, c& in adulationem lapfos cobibebat ‘of 7 ‘smandabatque bontores, nobilitatem majorum, claritudinign militia, ila: tres domi artes fpeétando : ut fatis conftaret non alios potiores fuiff. Sita confidibus, faa’ pretoribus [pices : mmnorum quogue magifiratuiim exer Cita pois: Teele, fi agai uci eximeretr, Lon ini, ‘aa can be fairer than this? and do not other Fiftorians agtee that he grew worfe and worfe: thar he had long fmothered his vices, and was firft and laft a complete diffembler? And is itjuft upon tact rus, to accufe him of difplaying the fubtleries and craft of a Prince, who ‘was all craft and fubdery? Does he not give us the good and bad of his Charaéter, and frequently defend it? Does he not fay of him in ‘oppofition to popular opinion and report, non crediderins ad oftentandans feviiam, mavendafue pop ofentones concen fl materi; quan- ‘quam id quoque dithmm of? An. 1.0.76. Does he not reprefent riper s elfewhere as mollifying a rigo- rous fentence of the Senate, for banifhing a criminal to a barren and defolace Iland, and arguing that co whomfoever they granted life, they ought to grant the conveniences of life: dandos vite afis cai vita con- eederetur Doss he not reprefent him in another place abfolutely refufing a new acceffion of power, and arguing againft it, like a Re- publican ; yet charges him there with no diflimulation? In him you have no falfe colouring, no true worth blemithed, no bad qualities difguifed ; but fair veprefentations and equal juftice. T 1 nERIus isa dangerous Prince, extremely falle, exeremely crucl; but he has many abilities, and fome good qualities. "He is prudent in mo- derating the exceffes of others, where he was not inftigated by his own erfonal anger: prudens moderandi, sbi propria ird nom smpeltretur. He loved power without bounds 5 yet was conftane and refolute in reject ing pompous honours: fpernendis houorilus validus: a great Tyrant, but a Prince obferving the rules of primitive parcimony : antique par= cimonice princeps:. farioully jealous of prerogatives yet the laws, where proceffes of treafon interfered not, were in proper force : ges, /f max Jofatis quaftio eximerctur, bono in afi. Fie is inflexible in his venge~ G ance22 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. ance, and wherever his jealoufy or anger centers, there terrible Tra- edies are fure to follow: Yet the popular imputation of his poifon- ing his fon, is by. T Act T.Us expofed as incredible and fabulous; with many the like inftances of eminent impartiality: He gives fair quarter to the man, but none to the Tyrant. To cravprus a ftupid Prince, and almoft a changeling, who hhad no judgment, no averfion of his own, but only fuch as were in finfed and managed by others, he allows a thare of fenfe at intervals s allows that he did fome reafonable things, gave good advice to the Prince of Parthia; and wanted not elegance in, his {peeches, when his {peeches were premeditated. He owns the fpitic of Sovereignty to 'bé jealous and unfociables but as an exception from this rule, men- tions the amiable friend(hip and inion between GeRMANIcUS and DRusvs, in the Court of rrBERrus, tho’ their different interefts had rent the whole Court into factions. He owns the friendthip of prusus for the children of GERMANIcUS; tho’ the participation of power, and the union of hearts, are feldom compatible, ‘The fame fair temper and truth he obferves in the Condué: and Charaéter of GAL BA, OTH, and even of NERO and VITELLAIUS? and ‘twas his bufineS and defign to lay open the iniquity and hor- rors of their mifrule. ‘Tursz are fome of the objeétions made to the Writings of 7.A- cxrus, and I think with extreme injuftice. His Criticks are more fuabtle than he: they are falfé refiners, who for the reputation of fa- gacity, make fingular remarks, and ferve him as they fay he did t1- BERTuS; they pervert and blacken his defigns, and are too curious to be equitable. ‘Tacitus, with 2 mafterly difcernment, unravels, the myfterious conduét of rrBER1us: ‘tis from awe of his Mother, “tis from fear of GERMANICUS, ‘tis from jealouly of the Gran- dees, and with defign to amufe and humour, or to deceive them all, that he rules and aéts with fuch temper and moderation, againft the bent and pride of his nature always imperious and tyrannical. But when he had well eftablithed himfelf; when GeRmManrcus was dead ; when his Mother too was gone; when he had crushed fome of the Grandes, and terrified all; and efpecially when he was far from the eyes of Rome, is it not moft true, that he then gave a loofe to al the exceffés of vilenefS and cruclty? cunéta fimul vitia, male din diffi mulata, tandem profudit. "Tis not Ta c1tus who fays this. ‘Was he not continually mocking and deluding the Senate? Firft he would by no means accept the Empire, ata time when he was aétual- ly in poffeffion : fomerimes he was weary of it, and would needs refign atevery turn. Before he quitted the City, he was for vifiting the Pro vines, and for this purpofe many preparations were made, and high expeétation raifed : then when he had retired to Caprex, he was con— tinwally amufing them wich his immediate return to Rome, nay begy’d cone of the Confuls to guard him, He carried the deceit fo far, that hhe often vifited the Continent, and the very Walls and Gardens ‘about Rome ; but never once return'd to Rome, nor vifited the Provinces, nor had a thought of refigning. ‘The Commonwealth was alway his mouth, even when he was aéting the ‘Tyrant moft: he profeffed eminent moderation while he was meditating aéts of cruelty and in in- ftances of injuftice and rigour, pleaded law and mercy, HisDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, 23 F115 malice in leaving fo wicked a Succeffor appears more from su- row tus than from rAcrT us, who allows him to have had fome thoughts of appointing another: but the former teftifies expretly, that TIBERIUS Was Wont to foretel what a devouring Dragon he rear’d for the Roman people, and what a Phaeton or incendiary to the whole earth. Tacrtus is vouched by suz tow rus in what he fays was reported for the motive which determined avcusTUSs to adopt TIBERIUS; ambitione trattum, ut tali fucceffore confiderabilior gh mandosne fieret. Sutt. in Tiber. c.'x1, The fame too is ceftified DION CAssrUS. Sc. IX. Mr. waviz's wu cenfure of vacirus; and ow well the latter knew and obfere'd the Laws of Hiflory. ‘R. BAYLE in his Digtimary in the Article of Tacitus, quotes fome paflages out of a Book entitled Anonymiana, where 7 Acr- Tus is criticiz'd as above, and approves thofe paflages. This is the JefS matter of wonder to me, for that Mr. pay, with all his im- menfe learning, acutenefs, and candour, had a ftrange and unnatural bia to ablolute Monarchy, tho’ he had fled from the fury of it, and taken refuge in a free State. A proof this that great weakneffes cleave to the greateft minds; and who-can boaft an exemption from preju- dices, when a fpirit fo fignally difinterefted and philofophical as that of BAYLE was not exempted? He himflf fays of racitus, quid yy @ bien a reprendre dans Laffettation de fon langage, & dans celle de vechercher les motifs ficrets des ations, & de les tourner vers le crinsi nel. That this charge is groundlefs I have already proved. Much lef to be regarded is the authority of Mr. St. EyREMOND in his cenfare upon Tact Tus:;his obfervations are without depth, to fy no worfe: nor have I found in his Works any political obfervations remarkable for (olidity. and force. What he has faid of che Romans, is fuperficial, and often wrong. Tacurus knew perfeétly the Laws of Hiftory, and blames the paf- fionate and partial accounts given by thofe who defcribed the fame reigns ; fince thofe of them which were written during the lives of the Princes, were falfified through dread of their Tyranny, and when dead, through deteftation of their late cruelties. He had no motive to be partial free as he was from affection, free from refenument. He knew that truth uncorrupted was the bufinefS of an Hiiftorian, and that perfonal affection and hate fhould have no hare in the work ; ‘nec amore qifquam, & fine odio dicendus off. Of GALna, oT Ho, and viTEL- Luvs he fiys, that to him they were known by no mark either of fi- vour or diskindnefs. ‘The fame is rue of aucust us, TiBERIUS, CALIGULA, CLAUDIUS, and Nero. He fhews how the wuth was corrupted, firft by flattery, thon by refentment; and profefies to be far from cither, “I think he is as good as his word. See. X. An Apology for the wrong account by vactrus given of the Fews and Chriftians, and for bis difregard of the Religion then received. TERE are other accufations prefented the Jews and Chritt 1 inl racxrus: he has mifte~ ns, and wanted Religion. Concern44 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, Conceawinc the Jews, he followed the traditions and accounts turrent amongft the Ronians: he tells you what different relations there were, and neither adds any thing, nor mifreprefents things malicioufly. Ie was an ob(eure State, generally enilav'd co’ fome greater power j wo the Afiyrians, Agyptians, Grecians, and then to the Romans; and con- ‘temned by all, as much as they themfelves hated all. ‘Fhey had not commion mercy er charity toward the Gentiles and uncircumcifed 5 and being perfuaded that the Almighty loved only theinfelves, they fancy’d that he abhorred, and therefore they abhorred the whole human: face befides: fo that owas faid by Tact Us too:troly, adverfis onmes alios hoftile odiam. They were likewife ever follicitous to hide their myfteries from the eyes of the Heathens, and could not blame thenr for not knowing what was not to be known, Yet he was not ill in- form’d in fome inftances, efpecially in their fpicitual notions of the Deity, with their averfion to Images, and to'the adoration of the Em~ perors: nulla finulatra urbibus fais, non regibus bac adulatio, nom Cefaribus honor. ‘OF the Gofpel ‘tis manifeft he knew nothing, he could: not elfe have inade fo ugly a pidture of thofe who profelfed it; for ic is not likely that the Chriftians were yet fo degenerated as to difgrace the Chriftian Religion, Tact us wanted an opportunity co be, bee informed. ‘That Religion, as ic began among the lower fort of people, had not probably hitherto gained many profelytes of name and quality, to countenance and recommend it to men of figure. Tacxrus confi- dered it like 2 Statefman, as a new Seét inconfiftent with the Laws of Rome, and threatning civil tumults and innovations, It is probable to0 he had heard and credited the calumnies thén ufvally chrowa y ‘the manners and meetings of that people. Nor after the’ belt inftruc- ion could he have become a Believer without the illumination of the Spirit; which, it is plain, was withheld from him: and, without « change of heait, it was impoffible for him to: conceive the Refurrec~ tion of the dead, and the Crucifixion of the Son of God. Yet he does them the juftice to vindicate them from the obloquy of NzRo, and expofes the barbaricy of their treatment by that Tyrant. For his difregarding the Religion then receiv'd, when I confider what forts of abfurdities the Pagans held for Religion, cannot fo much blame him. Ie was a worfhip paid to Deities altogether frantick and impure, by facrifices and follies ridiculous and vain; and both their Worthip and their Gods were invented by the cunning or delufion of men. It confifted in no purification of heart, noramendment of morals; the things which men and focieties requires but in founds, gefticulation, and the blood of beafts: not in truth and fenfe, in benevolence and reétitude of mind; burt in lying oracles, unaccountable myfteries, and a raving imagi tion : fometimes in profeli'd aéls of lewdnelS often in thoie of fury and madnefs; always in fuch as were forcign from real virtue and: the reftraining of the paffions. Public calamities were never thoughe to be brovghe down by public depravity and vice, nor to be averted or removed by public reformation. ‘The Gods were not offended but by the omiffion, or wrong performance of fome ceremony ot grimace s and by grimace and ceremony they were to be appeafed. And when the Deities were decmed to be endowed with the peevifhnefs and ca- prices of children and apes, or the phrenzy of Iunaticks, what man of 4enfe could reverence them, or believe in them? It would not have re 3 doundedDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. 2 founded to the reputation of his fenfe, if he had. Where Religioa is pure Superftition, and che belief of it abfolucely groundlefs and blind 5 where ics Rites are fanciful, foolith, and unmanly, as the Religion, and Gods, and Worthip of the Pagans were; it would have been a revolt from ‘common Reafon to have had any fuch Religion. We know how freely tee Ro deals with their Gods. ‘Iz is true that che great men of Rome, who either had no notiz on of Religion, or one quite oppofite to that publickly received and wraétifed, regarded it as far as it was interwoven with the conftitution of the State, and fubfervient to theends of Government: yet they fuffer'd their Poets, efpecially the dramatic Poets, to treat their Gods with fevere jefts and fatyr. ‘They feem’d to be of TIBERIUS's mind, Deo- ‘Tum injurias dijs cura ; that is, to leave to the Gods the avenging of in- dignities done w the Gods.” Men were punished for. their libelling particulars, people of condition, and efpecially Magiftrates; but 0 Fidicule and Jampoon the Deities; Jupiter arergerinn es Stage, was a matter of impunity and.diverfion. Trxrr Religion therefore confiting in Rituals, a man might be very religious with a very debauch’d and libertine Spirit : caltor deo: zum parcus & infrequens, is a complaint made by HORACE of him- falf, bue does not fem to infer much heavenly mindednefs, nor a de- parture from his impure pleafirres. One might on the contrary be exaétly good and juft, nay the pattern of Virtue, and a public Patriot, without any tinéture of their Religion. Such was cao the Cenfor; fach erreurys, and fuch was Pacrtus. He thought that either there was no Providence (for his mind waver’d between the dogtrine of necefficy and chat of chance,) or fuch a Providence as he could have well spared: nom off cure Deis ficuritarem nafiram, of altionem. | But this bold reproach upon the Deities he uttered, after his heart, zealous for the good of his Country, had been heated by a terrible detail of her calamities. Nox indeed according to the ideas conceived of thefe odd Beings, fo ealily humour'd and provok’d, could one fay much good of them, or expett ic from chem. In the reign of weno he enumerates many prefiges, from which as from fignals divinely fent,-great changes for the bewer were inferred ; but all vanithed into air and difappointment prodigia crebra & invita interceffere ; ec. Hence he argues, that all thefe omens happened fo apparently without any direction or interpofi- tion of the Gods, that, for many years after, NERO rioted in power and wickednefs. Waareven were the fpeculations of our Author about Religion; his Morality is ftrong and purc, fall of benevolence to human fociety 5 full of every generous paffion, and every noble principle; a terrible re uke to iniquity, vice and bafenefs, in all ftations and thapess and one continued Icffon of wifdom and virtue. ‘Thefé are the excellencies which in civil life recommend Books and Men 5 thefe the excellencies which recommend ractr uss excellencies which he has carried as high as the utmoft efforts of human genius could carry d Mr. Bayir fays, (és Annales cs fan Hiftoive font quelque chofé admirable, e Pun aes pls grands afires de trie umain = foit. que You y confidere la Snngulavite due file, foit que Von s'attacbe a la beauté des penfecs, cr ‘cet heureuse pincean’ avec lequel il a few peindre les delguifimens’ & les Sourberies des politiques, & le foible des pibions 5 I Now26 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, Nor does he thew more abilities than probity, as aftonifhing as his abilities were: and having fo much, what more did he want for his defign ? or what more could we wih in him? Which is the better in- firudtor, he who has ftore of faith, but wants virtue, and abounds not in good fenfe; or he who wants the frft, but abounds in knowledge and the rules of righteouthetS? Ics for this we confult Tac1 tus, not for his Theological fpeculations, How do his metaphyfical notions impede his excellencies as an Hiftorian and Politician; or his miftakes in one thing, leffen his difcernment and veracity in another? AccorD1NG to the accounts of our beft Travellers concerning China, the Mandarins who are the Nobility of the country, the Learn- ed, and fiach as hold the Magiftracy, have no Religion at all: their governing principle is public ipirit; ‘their principal fludy the good of the State; and they are noted for politenefs and virtue. The Bonzes ‘or Priefts, on the contrary, pretend to extraordinary devotion; but are vicious, fordid, bate, and void of every virmue private or public. Here is an inftance of a Monarchy the moit thriving of any upon carth, or that ever was upon earth ; an Empire that contains more people than half the reft of the globe, thefe people full of induftry and arts; yet ad- miniftred by men who are of no particular Religion or Seét, but are guided by the natural lights of Reafon and Morality 5 nor knows it a greater blot and difgrace than the vile lives of its Priefts and Religious. Acatnsr this inftance fet another, that of the Pope’s Dominions, the center of the Romith Religion; where holy men fway all things, and have engrof'd all things; where cortures and flames keep out Infi- dels and Hereticks, and every man who thinks awry; and where the champions for devotion, {9 called, proteét the Church, and feed them- felves. Now where but here fhould one look for the marks. of opulence, eae, and plenty, and public happinefs, if by an Adminiftration of Priefts and Devotees, public happinefs were advanced? But behold 2 diffe- rent and melancholy fcene! Countries fertile, but defolate; the ople ignorant, idle, and ftarving, and all che marks and weight of ‘midry! Dots not this merit refleétion, thata Church blended and debauched with exceffive wealth and power, is worfe, a thonfand times worfe than none; and that the mere light of nature and of reafon is many degrees more conducive to the temporal welfare of humankind, than a Reli- gion or Church which is purely lucrative and felfifh? Were the Romith Church, of any other Church that teaches pains and penalties 5 any that exalts Ecclefiaftics into power, and leaves thom the fwvord, or weilds it for them, once cftablitned in China ; there would in a lite time be an end of their incredible numbers; and it would foon feel the cruel curfe attending the change. In this fentimene I am vouched by that polite Writer, and candid Prelate, Dr. r1LLoTsoN: “ Better it « were, fays he, there were no revealed Religion, and that human na- ture were left to the conduét of its own principles and. inclinations, which are much more mild and merciful, much more for the peace and happinefs of human fociety 5 than to be aéted by a Religion that infpires men with fo wild a fury, and prompts them to commie fuch * outrages.” Serm. Vol. I. p. 206. Make another comparifon between two particulars, a Heathen gui- ded by reafon, anda Chriftian by paffion and falle zeal; between a crrus.and St, yznoat: behold the politenef&, candour, eternal truch, and good fenfé in the one: mark the rathnefé and enthuGafin, the fierce 2 neDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. 27 nefs and falthood of the other. So much ftrouger were the paffions ‘and infincerity of this great Saint, than the impreffions of the Chriftian Religion, which is all mecknefS and candour: nay he often makes it a fale for his fury, forgeries, and implacable vengeance. I meddle not with his ftrange maxims, fome fooliih, fome mad, many impractica- ble, and others turbulent and feditious. In Tacitus you have the good fenfe and breeding of a Gendeman; in the Saint the rage and dreams of a Monk. Does the Religion of the latter recommend his reveries and bicter spirits or che want of it in r actus, weaken the fhining truths that are in him? ‘Wuew a Writer relates fads or reafons from principles, his good fenfe and veracity only are to be regarded; and we have no more to do with his Speculations or miftakes in other matters, than with his per- fon or complexion, Pxrny and ARIsTOTL® are reckon'd Atheifts but what is this to their fine parts and learning? Wich finall fpirits and bigots every thing that is noble and free, is Acheifin and Blafphemy. ‘The licelenef& and fournefs of their own hearts, is the meafure of all things, Nerva, TRAJAN, and MARCUS AURELIUS were Hea~ then Princes ; but they had vireue and benevolence, and their admini- ftration was righteous what more did their fubjeéts want from them? Justin1aN, CONSTANTIUS, JOHN BASILOWITZ, JOHN Gaxeas, and Lewis the eleventh, were Chriftian Princes, arid men pretending to high Devotions fome of them great contenders for Ortho- doxy, and great builders of Churches; but all barbarous and confuming ‘Tyrants, “What were their people or themfelves the better for th Religion, without good nature and probity? Nay, they made Religion one of their principal machines for Tyranny; as Religion in a Tyrant or Impoftor is litle elf but an impious bargain and compofition with God for abufing men. Sucu in wuth is the fication of things below, fuch the frame and foible of men, that it depends in a great meafure upon Civil Go- vernment, whether Religion fhall in this world do good or harm. Is a country filled with oppreffion, the happier for being filled too with Churches and Priefts, as were Greece and Italy by Jus TIN 1AN? Or can a country that abounds in virtue and happinef and gaod Laws, want any more to all the purpofes of focial life; like Lace demon and Rome in their beft ages? Let us praife all who have true Religion, full of mercy, and void of bigottry; bur Tet us not con= demn fuch as for want of the fume lights and revelation which we have been blef’d with, are, without any forms of Religion, virtuous and wife. Certainly worfe, much worfe than none, is that Religion which infpires pride, bigotry, and fiercenefs, and hath not charity for all men. ‘To conclude this head, I thal here fubjoin what I have faid elie where to the like purpole: “ That black is not white, and chat two «and two make four, is as true out of the mouth of an Atheift, as « out of the mouth of an Apoftle: a penny given by an Atheift to a ‘egg is better alms than a half penny given by a Believer; and « the good fenfe of an Atheift is preferable to the miftakes of a good “ Chiitian: in thor. whatever®repued Atheifls do well, or jpeak « wuly, is more to be imitated and credited, chan what the greareft « Believers do wickedly, or fay falfly: even in the bufinels of bearing « oftimony, or making a report, in which cafes the credi or repu- * tation28 DISCOURSES UPON TATITUS. « tation of the witnefs gives fome weighs, or none, to what he fayes « more regard is to be had to the word of an Unbeliever, who has « no intereft on either fide, than to the word of a Believer who has: « neither are the good or bad aétions of an Atheift worfe, with re~ * f{peét to the world at leaft, for his being one; though the fin of «a Saine is more finfol than chat of a Pagan. Iris the greateft folly to think that any man’s crimes are the lefS for him who commits “ them; or chat truth is le& or more truth, for the ill or good * name of him who {peaks it.” Se@. XL. The foolifh cenfiure of Bocca.in: and othérs upon TACITUS, HE cenfure paffed upon racirus by noccanrex and fome of the other Commentators, as if he malicioufly taught leffons of Tyranny; is fo fenfelefS and abfird that it merits no notice, much lef confutation. As well may they fiy that Lv THER and father Pav difplay the encroachments and frauds of the Church of Rome, on purpofe to eich that or other Churches how to opprefs and deceives or that Livy, as great a Republican as ever lived, ex- pofed the ufurpations and Tyranny of rar QutN, in order to in- Strutt ‘Usrpers co fuppore themfelves and extingifh public liber. ‘Tacrrus reprefents ‘Tyrants as odious to all men, and even to them- felves. But what anfwer could one give to a man who thould vance that GROTIUS wrote his Book of the Truth of Chriftianicy, with a view to promote and confirm Paganifin? Se&, XIL Of the feveral Commentators and Tranflators of TACITUS. ‘T were almoft endlef to mention all who have writ upoii racitus, and their fucce: numbers have done it, many as Criticks, fome politically; and feveral of the former with fufficiency and applaufe, fuch as LipsiUs, FREINSHEMIUS, old GRONO- vrus, and RYCKIUS, From the cdition publithed by this lat I have made my Tranflation: the text is very correét, and his notes are judicious and good. OF all thofe who have commented upon his Po- liticks, Ican commend but very fews I mean fuch as I have feen: ma— ny of them are worfe than indifferent: tedious compilations of common places, or heavy paraphrafes upon the original, where its vigour is Joft in faperfluous explications; and the lively’ thoughts of Tacx Tus converted into lifele& maxims, frequently wrong converted frequently trifling and affeéted; ofien fuch difcoveries as are obviou to every peafant or child: or puffy declamations, tedious, Iaboure and uninftruétive. OF one or other fore are the Commentaries of BOCCALINI, ANNIBAL SCOTI, FONSTNERUS, scHILDUS, and divers others. Mr. AMELOT DE LA HoUssAYe has made a large colledtion of political obfervations upon TAL US, as far as the thirteenth Ane nal inclufives fome of them pertinent and wfefuls but many of them infipid, and litcle worth. "The very firft which he makes, is fat and Poors des que la Ruianté commenit a degencver on tyrannic, e peuple apive a ta lberté. Little bewer is this; quand am Prince commence & 3 devenirDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. 29 devenir infirme, o caffe, tout le monde rourne les yeux vers Ie foleil Ie- vant, Coft & dire, vers for fucceffeur: and this; les refus da Prince doivent ‘tire affaifinnes, de doucesr &» de courtoyfie: and this; ceux méme qui ont renoncé & leur bonneur, & qui font gloire de leur feelera~ ‘afl, Loenfnt ere applies raises: and this; as bus General ne ioit jamais hazarder une bataille, qu'il wait mis bon ordre par tout: this ‘tos il n'y @ rien dont un Favori, ou un premier Minifire, doive Si mere plus en peine, que de bien connoitre Phumenr de fon Prince: this too; um Prince dépodill de és Etats ne refle pas volentiers entre les mains de celui qui sen off emparé. AM this is teite, void of force and inftrudtion, ‘Tue Spanith Tranflation by DON ALAMOS DE BARRIENTOS, is accompanied with numerous Annotations, by him ftiled Aforifines, which are as indifferent and impotent as the Tranflation it lf is good and ftrong. His obfervation upon, cuntta diftordiis cvilibus fifa, no- amine princps fib imperiam atc, is, Quando alguna fe vinire a ba- er Setior de iina grande, y podevofa cividad libre, lo mas ordinario fora defpues de wna larga guerra civil: “ the opportunity for any one to «"become mafter of great and powerful free City, is moft commonly « at the end of a great civil war.” Tac1rus fays, that aUcustuS left the firft Lords of the Senate his heirs in the third degree, tho’ moft of them were haced by him: plrofue ins i, ed jadtantia glvie. que ad pofteros. Don aramos obferves upon this:” El principe mi has ‘weces haze howra a las perfnes que aborvece, para gagnar fama de mnodeflia y fufrimiento: «a Prince often confers honours on thofe he « hates, purely for the reputation of moderation and temper.” Ta~ citrus fays of cErMANIcUS, anxius occultis in fe patra’ avieque odiis, quorum canffe acviores quia iniquee : El hombre inocente y bueno, (fys DON ALAMOS, by way of Annotation) de ninguna coftt recibe tanta congoxa, como de los fecretos aborvecimientes que fabe le tienen fus parientos, fin merecerlo: “a worthy and innocent man feels fo much ‘ anguith from nothing as from the fecret hate which he knows « his parents bear him, without deferving it.” Or finall valve are fuch reflections, and finall chought they coft to produce them: the lef is rhe wonder that DON ALAMOS has vent ed fach a myriad. Cx 1201, an Italian, has however cranflaced chem into his own language, with ‘high encomiums, and publifhed chem with the Italian Tranflation of Pox1tt, a Tranflation which reads well, buc hampers the thoughts of racrtus, and from an affec tation to be as coneife as the original, lofes much of its weight and {pi rit. Dow aLamos, on the contrary, opens the fentiments of Ta- errs fully, often over-fully, by fupplemental parentheles, chat are fometimes perfeétly necdlefs,” and always marr and embarrafs the reading. Tuisn are che only Spanith and Italian Verfions which 1 have feen of + ac1ts. There are more of the former, by suEYRo and coLoMA, both well eficemed; and as many more Italian by Davy. and PAVANzATx not at all commended. Of French Tranflations there are five or fix, all except two, good for little, fome of them good for nothing. ‘Thefe two are by Mr. dHARLAY DE CHANVALLON, who has done the whole, and Mr, antnLo? DE LA HoUss AY x who hhas only gone as far as the thirtcenth Annal: the former is vigorous and jufly fike thae of a man of fenfeand obfervation nor has dhe laeter I any,30 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. any advantage over him, fave that his French is more modern, if chat beany. Aptancount is likewile one of the French Tranflators of TAcrrus, 2 man of name and of a flowing ftile ; but if he has ‘abufed other Authors as he has abufed and transformed Tact Tus, ‘tis fit they were all done over again, ‘There is fome life in him, and har- mony, but no juftnes nor ftrength. All the force and fine ideas of Tacitus are loft in ABLANCOURT. Sea. XII. 4 Conjetture concerning the modern Languagess more largely concerning the Englifh. F the French Tongue it elf I may venture to fay after better judges than my lf, that from a laxnefé and effeminacy effential to it, it Cannot naturalize the trong expreffions of the Ancients, without fpreading and weakning them confiderably = it has a number of rela tives, particles and monoffllables that return inceffantly, and flatten the fenfe and tire the ear. ‘The Englith Language has indeed many words more harfh than the French 5 but it has likewife many more fpiricuous and founding: and tho’ it be alfo loaded with relatives, particles and words of one fyllable, yet I think not to the fame degree, nor do thofe we have return fo oftens and we can frequently drop the particles, and Jeave them to be underftood, as well as the relatives. In this refpeét the Latins had an advantage over the Greeks 5 as thofe two Languages have over every other that is now in the world, or perhaps ever was. We are infinitely behind them in fignificahey and found, and with all our adventitious words and refinements, are ftill crude and gothick to them. Neareft in Language to the Ancients come the Spaniards and Italians, though {till far behind yet they fland over the heads of the Englifh and French, and walk while we creep. The Spanith is the more fonorous and lofty; the Italian the more {weet and gliding ; and both excell in harmony, numerofity, and the pomp of words. The Italians {eem to have fpoiled their Tongue, by wild hyper- bolas, and phrafes of mere found and complement: whether ir be from the ten of the nation to Love and Mufick; whether ir he from the Le~ ends of their Saints, and their extravaganr icks upon them, or from their Slavery to Churchmen, or the Severity of their Government, or from what other caule I do nor pretend to determi THe French profels to have greatly refined theit Tongues and itis indeed brought to be excceding glib and perfpicuous; but whether the refiners have not pared away its ftrength to make it more thapely and regular, has been doubted. Some refinements we alf have made in ours, perhaps by imitating the French ; tho’ I hope we have better preferved its force. Eafy writing has been Nudied to affeétation ; a fort of writing, which, where the thoughts are not clofe, the fenfe ftrong, and the phrafe genteel, is of all others the moft contemptible. Such were the productions of sr ROGER L'ESTRANGE, not fit to be read by any who have tafte or good breeding: they are’ full of technical terms, of phrafes picked up in the ftrect ftom apprentices and porters, and nothing can be more low and nuleous, His fentences, befides their gro%nels, ate lively nothings, which can never be tranfated (the only way to try language) and will hardly bear repetition: between Lazo and buzzard: clawed him with kindue{s: alert and frishies gnazling down tipple: would not keep touch s a queer putt: lay curfed hard upon theirDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. 3r their gizzard: cramm his gutt: conceited noddy: old chuff: and the like, are fome of stn noGeR's choice flowers, Yet this man was reckoned a Mafter, nay a Reformer of the Englith Language: a man who. writ no Language; nor does it appear thar re underitood any; witnels his miferable Tranflations of c1cERo’s Offices and yosrpuus. That of the latter is a Verfion full of miftakes, wretched and low, from an aly and polite one of Monfieur p’an DILLY. Sir ROGER is one amongft the feveral hands who attempted TA cxrus, and the third Book of the Hiftories is faid to be done by his He knew not a word of it but what he has taken from six HENRY savrbt, and him he has wretchedly perverted and mangled, uc of the wife and grave mouth of racx7us he brings fuch quaine (tuff as this : 10 cajt the point upon that iffue:—fneaking departure of vit EL- Lius:— at the rate of a man at bis wit's nd:— fotti{b multitude never went beyond bawling :——~an Emperor luge'd out of bis hole: —= the fexton of the Capitol: —the Government dropt into VisP ASIAN'S moth: —not cut out for a foldier:— went not a fag way t0 work:——vALENS in the interim with his diffalute train of capons [inco this feniélef cant word s 1m ROGER elegantly changes that of Zi nuchs ufed by $1® H. SAVILL, for I date fay he neither faw nor knew the original, agmine {padonum|: the Emperor guzzling and gorman- thzing be a beep. ‘Suci jargon is hardly good enough for a Poppet thew. $1 ROGER had a genius for buffoonry and a rabble, and higher he never went: his ftile and his thoughts are too vulgar for a fenfible artificer. To put his Books into the hands of youth or boys, for whom chiely sop by him burle(qued was defigned, is to vitiate their «afte, and 10 give them a poor low turn of thinking; not to mention the vile and flavith principles of the man. He has not only turned rsor's pln Beals, ffom che fimpliccy of nature, ino Jefters and Buffoonss ut out of the mouths of Animals inur’d to che boundlefs freedom of air and deferts, has drawn doétrines of fervitude and a defence of Ty= ranny. THe tafte and ftile of the Court is always the ftandard of the publick. At the Reftoration, a time of great feltivity and joy, the for~ mal and forbidding gravity of the preceding times, became a fathiona~ ble topic of ridicule: a manner different and oppofite was introduced. jeft and waggery were encouraged ; and the King himfelf delighted in drollery and low humour. Hence the Language became replece with ludicrous phrafes ; archnefs and cant grew diverting ; the writings of witlings pafs'd for wit; and if they were fevere upon the Sectaric the fathion was, they pleas'd the Court, By this means r'ESTRAN GE got his charaéter. Te is very crue that there appeared at the fame time men of juft wit and polite file; buc it cannot be denied buc chac the other manner was prevalent the greateft wits fometimes fell into it. Tirrs humour ended noc with that Reign nor the next, buc was continued after the Revolution by L'nSTRANGE, TOM BROWN, and other delighters in low jefts, their imitators: and fuch witlings have contributed confiderably to debauch our Tongue. If we go fo high as Queen Bu1zanern’s time, we hall find that a good file began chen to be us'd, agreably ro che good fenté of that Princefs and. her Coure; and we have the Language of that age in stk WALTER RaLMron, whofe genius was t00 jul and ftrong «0 go into the mife- wg rable32 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. rable pedantry of the next reign. Many of the produétions then, and particularly the Royal produétions, are wretched beyond meafure 5 (U ‘with the honour and politicks of thofe days had been better:) nor could fo confiderable a man as stR FRANCIS BACON efeape the infection. Tue next Prince affeded a high and rigid gravity, and a pomp and folemnity of file hecame common: yer the Language began to recover, when the cant and enthufiafm enfuing, gave iva new tinéure infipid and diftafteful enough. But between the reign of King ya mes and the Reftoration, feveral Writers appeared eminently happy in their file fuch particularly was Mr. cHILLINGWoRTH, Whofe language is flowing, and free as his own candid fpirit. ‘The fame charaéter is due to the excellent Lord FaLK LAND, and Mr. Hates of Eaton. Mr, Hon pes’s Englith is beautiful almoft, if not altogether, beyond exan le: nothing can be finer than his way of expreffing his thoughts: his Rite is as fingularly good, charming and clear, as many of his princi~ ples are dangerous arid falle, Under this charaGeer of his flile I do not comprize his ‘Tranflation of raucy D1DEs 3 as it does not, however ju itbe, refemble his other Works. Hence Lam inclinable to believe what I have heard, that it was done by fome of his difeipes and by him revifed; yet it far excels moft of our ‘Tranflations. Miz ton’s ‘Englith Profe’is harfh and uncouth, tho’ vigorous and expreffive.. The fille of seLDEN and HAMaoND is rugged and perplexed. Se&. XIV. A conjetture concerning the prefent fiare of the Englifo Tongue, with an account of the prefent Work, F the Charaéter of Writing in our own time, were Io give my opinion, I thould be apr to fay, rhat in general it comes too near to talking; method which will hardly make it deligheful or lafting = no words upon paper will have the fame effect as words accompanied with a voice, looks and ation; hence the choughts and language fhould. be fo far rais'd as to fupply the want of thofe advantages; but indeed this is impofible, and therefore there is the greater caufe for heighten- ing the flile: now becaufe labour'd periods are offenfive, and flat ones are infipid, the excellency lies between pomp and negligence. Let it be as ealy as you pleale, but let it be ftrong ; two advantages thac are very Compatible, and often found in the fame Writer. Livy is remarkable for both: it is his eloquence and ornaments which have preferved him in fuch efteem, as much as his matter and good fenfe. The late Lord suarrsnury, though he has been perhaps too anxious and affeéted in forming his phrafe nefé and fluency, has yet had good fuccefs: fince ie is manifeft that his foft alluring ile thas multiplied his Readers, and helped power- recommend his Works. Dr. nuR NE of the Charter-Houle wrote with great eloquence and majefly, yet eafy and unafieged, Dr. TILLorson’s file is plain and pleafant, enlivened too with fine images and ftrong fenfe: yet many, while they ftrove ta imitate him, have written very poorly.” This has happened to fome of our Divines, who ftudying his manner, but wanting his genius, have uttered a flow of words, which found not ill, but tack fpirit ‘and matter, I have looked over whole pages of Bifhop Bi ack a's Scrinons, without finding any thing which offended the ear, or pleated the imagination, or 5 informedDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, 33 informed the underftanding. I cannot help mentioning here another Writer, who has gained great reputation for Stile, without deferving any: Imean Dr.s PRAT Bifhop of Rochefter. His expreffion is lan Buthing and infipid, Aull of fall pomp, full of affectation. He is al- ways aiming at harmony and wit, but fucceeds ill; for his manner is fiarched and pedantick, With much greater juftice has the Stile of Dr. AT TER BURY his fucceffor been admired. OvR Tongue is naturally cold, and the lefs force our words have, the more they muft be multiplied: this multiplying of words is tedi- ous; thence the remedy is as bad as the difeaie. The Latin phrafes ‘on the contrary are fhort and lively, and a few words convey many ima- ges. ‘Thefe difficulties with many others I found in this Tranflation very fenfibly. I wanted new words, buc have rarely coin’d any, as the creating of words is generally thought affeéted and foppith: yet I have fometimes ventured upon a new phrafe, and a way of my own; upon. drawing the Englith idiom as near as poffible to that of the Latin, and to the genius of my Authors by leaving the beaten road, dropping par- ticles, tranfpofing words, and beginning a fentence where ic is ufval to end it. I have ftudied to imitate the fpirit, eloquence and turns of TACIT us, as far as I could, affifted by a Language weak in its founds, and loof in its contexture. "This manner of writing, I own, would be {ftrange and even ridiculous in plain and familiar fubjeéts ; but where the fubjeét is high and folemn, there mutt be a conformity of file. Ix the political Difeourfes following, I have likewife taken a me~ thod of my own, in reafoning largely upon topics which to me feemed of the moit moment to this free Nation, and giving an idea of the Poli- tics of the Cefars; of the vis, artes, & inftrumenta regni, as by TACK ‘rus they are called. I have vindicated the principles of civil Liberty 5 Thave examined the defences made for cesar and aueusrus; 1 hhave difplayed the genius of thefe Ufarpers ; the temper and debafe- ment of the people; with the conduét and tyranny of their fucceflors, to theend of the sdimalt., "When T publith my Tranilation of the F- “flory I fhall have more to fay. Thave little troubled my felf with the firife and gueffes of Commentators, and various Readings. I have cho- fen the belt editions, and where the meaning was dubious, taken che moft probable: for, after all, there is a good deal of guefS-work and un- certainty; difficulties not peculiar to TACITUS. Twas perfuaded to this undertaking feveral years ago by a friend of mine a Gentleman of Letters in the City; for then I had never feen the Englith Tranflation, and knew not but it was a good one. Mr. qn N CuARD approve che defign wich his ufual zeal for every ching which favoured public Liberty. My Lord carte ret, who under- flands TACITUS perfeétly and admires him, was pleafed co chink me not unfit for it, and gave me many juft lights about the manner of doing it; thac particularly of allowing my felf feope and free- dom, without which Iam fatisfied every Tranflation mutt be pe- dantic and cold, A ‘Tranflation ought to ead like an Original. ‘The Duke of arcyee efpoufed ic generoufly, with that fianknefs which is natural co him, agreable to his knowledge and tatte of polite Learn- ing, and to his fincere love of Liberty. So did my Lord TowNsHEND: and sn Ronent waLroue encouraged me in che purfult of icin a manner eminently to my credit: and to many Gentlemen of my ac~ quaintance I am much obliged upon this oceafion, T own T have K been34 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. tbeen Jong about this Tranilation: that I was fo, is to be a(cribed not fo much to idlene&, as to diffidence. It was done a long while before T put ic to the prefs: after all my care and many revifes, I continued apprehenfive that much fault might be found, and many objections made; a misfortune which I fill doubt I thall not be able to efeape, and with I may not deférve. I therefore rely more on the candour of my Readers, than on my own fufficiency. ‘Thofe of them who tn- derftand Tacitus in the Original will eafily make allowances for the difficulty of making him fpealc any other Language. I have been chiefly careful not to miftake the fentiments of ny Author about hu- man Nature and Government; and I will venture to fay that no man who has not accuftomed himfelf to think upon thefe two fubjeés, can ever make tolerable fenfe of tacxTus, let him be as learned in other things as he will. For the fame reafon, no man that is merely Learned, can ever he pleafed with a free Tranilation however faithful and juft; for his chief attachment will ever be to Words and Criti- cifm. Who had more Learning than sir #. sav 11? ’tis plain he abounded beyond moft men; but I fuppofe Learning was his chief ac~ complithment; and thence his Tranflation is a very poor one. The fault cannot be afcribed to the time; for at that time the polite world wrote and ipoke well; and if stk WALTER RaLErcH had then tsanflated it, no body I believe would have ever attempted to mend it. Or the former Tranflations of the remaining Books of Tacitus, that is to fay, his Hiflories; his Account of Germany; and his Life of Agricola; Uhall give fomeaccount when I publith my fecond Volume. DISCOURSE fil Upon cesar the Dictator. Se&t.1. Of cxsan’sUfpation, and why bis Name is lefs odious than that of CA TILINE. OTHING has been hitherto found a fufficient check and barrier to the exorbitant paffions of mens neither kindneS nor feverity ; nor muléts nor pain; nor honour; nor infamy; hor the terrors of death. A proof this, how far human malice or ambition is an over-match for human wiflom; fince Laws and Con- ftitutions framed by the beft and wileft men, have firft or laft become the fpore and conquelt of the worft, fomerimes of the moft foolith. Could wife Eftablithments have enfured the fability of State, that of Rome had been immortal. Befides adopting all che beft Infticuti Of the free States of Greece, accitis que nfquam egregia, ber principal feruggleand employment for fome Ceneuries, was the fubduing of foreign enemies by Arms, and the {ecuring of domeftick Liberty by wholfome Laws; and for Laws and Arms fhe was the wonder and the glory of the earth. But the, whofe force and policy no power could withttand, not that of Greece’ nor of Carthage, nor of the World, fell by the corruption and perfidioufiefs and violence of her own Citizens. “The only fword that could hurt her, was her own with that fhe trufted cesar, and chat he turned unnaturally upon hig own mother, and by it enflaved her. Cariiine’sDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, 35 Cariirne’s Confpiracy and crime every mah detefts: yet CESAR accomplithed what cA TIL INE only intended. Had he better qua- lites than cari tx? he was fo much the worfe, and able ta da higher mifchiefs. See how infatuation prevails! the fame men who abhor cA TIL INE, admire cesar, who actually did more evil than ever the wicked heart of CATILINE had conceived. But cati- Line had no fuccefs, nor confequently fatterers. Had he fucceeded, had he entailed Rome upon his race, and fuch as would have been con- cemed to bave guurded his furne, there would noc have been waning flattering Poers and Hiftorians to have ecchoed his Praifes and Genius divine, his Eloquence, Courage, Liberality and Politics, and how much the degeneracy of Rome wanted fuch a Reformer, with every other topick ed in defence of cesar. But CaTILiNe failed, and is owned to have been 2 Traitor: czsAx’s iniquity was triumphant, {6 was his name; and after-ages have continued to reverence him by the force of habic, and of fuperitition which fwallows every thing, examines no- thing. When popular opinion has confecrated a man or a name, all that man’s a€tions, however wicked or foolith, and every thing done under that name, are {ure to be confecrated too: the force of authority is irrefiftible and infatuating, and reafon and truth mutt yield to pre~ judice and words, Se&.11. Of tbe publick Corruption by casa promoted or introduced, with bs bold and wieked Coit AS the Commonwealth become disjointed and corrupt; as in W ‘eit isn deeply and dangeroufly? who had contributed £0 much as CESAR to that wicked work? From his firft appearance in the world he confederated with every publick Incendiary, wich every troubler of the peace of the State, with every Traitor againft his Coun- try: infomuch that he was divefted of the dignity of Pretor by a {o- Iemn Decree of Senate : and when he follicited for the Confulthip, his ambition and violent defigns were fo much apprehended in chat fu- reme Office, bil non anfurum euns in fimmo magifiratd, thac co check him with a proper Collegue, the Senators contributed a great fam of money; nor did even cA To deny bue that fuch contribution, however againit Law, was neceffary then to fave the State; ne Catone quidem abnucnte cara largitionem e Rep. fferi. ‘He began that Office with violent as of power: by violence dif pofeft ‘Collegue of all fhare in the Adminittration; and during the whole term, he raifed and pulled down, gave and took away by mere will and power, whatfoever and whomfocver he would ; terrified fome, imprifoned others; forged plors, fuborned lying accufers, and then mur~ thered them, and trampled upon all Faich and Law. “To efcape punifhinent for all chef outrages, he corrupted and bribed the people, t0 chufe his own creatures into the Magiftracy, or bribed the Magiftrates after they were cholen. He went fo far as even to en~ gage fome of them, by oath and writing, never to call him to account, Hor fuffer him to be called. By the fame wicked methods he got for his lot the Province of Gaul, and kepe it for ten years, committing fieth creafon every day 5 making war of his own head, tight or wrong, upon friend and foes infounuch that it was propoted in Senate to deliver him up ta the ene- z my?36 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. my: but faétion and bribery faved him, and from the moft extenfive rapine he derived his power of bribing. He feafted the people, he gave them largefles; he gained the Senators by money, the foldiers by do- natives, nay the favorite fervants and loweft flaves of confiderable men, were bribed by him. Every prodigal, every expenfive youth, every man indebted and defperate, every criminal, found in him a ready fup- port and proteétor; and when their expences, debts, and crimes, were fo exceffive as to admit of no relief from him, to fuch he was wont to preach the abfolute neceffity of a Civil War. ‘on did foreign Kings and Nations efcape his court and gifts: upon them he beftowed aids, and arms, and captives, all belonging to the Roman people, and without their authority; chus to purchale fe reign friendfhip againft a day of ufurpation and need, To do all this the robbed the Provinces, plundered Towns, pillag’d Temples, even the Capitol he plundered; ‘whence he ftole a vaft quantity of gold, and placed fo much gilt brafé in the room of it, and put whole Kingdoms and Provinces under contribution to his privy purfe. How many thoufand deaths did this man deferve, even before he had committed his capital iniquity? It was he who thus principally corrupted the State, and embroiled it, and unfetled ic in all its parts. He offered indeed to difband his forces, if Pompey would do fo 1003 but even this offer was giving law to Rome. ‘The Senate was to judge, and not cesar, what armies were to be difbanded, what to be retained. Belides, even that propofal was jullly fafpested to have been faithle& and hollow 5 fince bad he executed the fume, ir had been eafier for him to have re-affembled upon occafion his veteran foldiers, than for Pompey his troops lately levied. Hp there been no corruption in the State, fuch a man was enough to introduce it. From his infancy he was thought to have meditated the enflaving of his Country, and in order to eniflave it, created cor- ruption or improved it: to commic the blackeft treafon and iniquity that the malice of man could devife, he ftuck at no other, but by a Babel of crimes accomplithed the higheft. Se&. IL. Cxsan might have purified and reformed the States but far different were bis imentims. His Art, good Senfe, and continned ill Defigns. Dp”, the State want reforming? why did not cesa x reform and reftore it? This would have been true Glory, the only truc ule of his abfolute power, and the only amends for having affumed it. ‘The work too was praéticable: the wifeft and greateft men in Rome thought it fo, even after all the poifon and depravity introduced by him. Buutus, crceno, and the Senate thought fos elfe he would never have been put to Death by thofe who did it. If the Stare had been deemed irretrievable, and an Ufarper a neceffiry evil, they could not have hada better than ces Ax. Buc they judged other- wife, and for fome time Liberty was aGually reftored: why it fubfifted no longer, was owing to cafualties and the faithlefine® of o¢ vis. , No human wiflom can take in all incidents and pofibilities at one view; to fee them by fucceffion is often to fee them roo lat and againft what is not foreféen no remedy can be provided. Cxcrxo who fwayed the Senate, in hatred to ANTHONY, trufted oct a- 2 viusDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, 37 vi1us too. much, and raifed him too high, and was by that falfe crea- ture giren up tothe flaughter, vo fitiae the vengeance of ax TONY, to cement their late union, and to begin the bloody Tragedy which they had meditated againft their Country and her Liberty, fy the mur- der of fo fignal. a Patriot. What followed was horrible, “continued maflicres and the rage of the fword, the people armed againft: one another, two thirds of them deftroyed, and avcustws eftablifhed Sovercign over the reft. He too thought it poffible to refertle the old free State, by propofing once or twice to refign: however infincere he were, it was a confeflion that he thought it 10 be deemed practicable: and Di UsUS, his wife's fon, declared his own purpofe to effedt its nay it was what rrneRius, after he was Emperor, pretended to do. Cxsan was faid to have foretold the publick Calamities and Civil ‘Wars to enfue. Why did he not prevent them? By his Diétatorial power he might have removed what enormities, and made what regulations he would, fupprefied the infolence of particulars, revived the force of the Laws, and reduced the Commonwealth to her firft principles and firmnel. ' Inftead of this, he continued, more and more to break her remaining ballance, to weaken and debauch the people, and to deftroy every Law of Liberty. Lipexty and the Republick were a jeft to ceSAR; he treated the very name with ridicule and contempt: nihil effe Rempublicam ; appel- Tationenn modo fine corpore ac fpecie. Fie punned upon s¥L1 A for re~ Gigning his ufirped power. He had nothing in his head or heart but abjolute rule, a Diadem, the title of King, and controuling the world according to his lutt;’ mullos non bonores ad libidinem capit & dedit, fpreto Patria more: nay to have his very words go for Laws; debere omnes pro Legibus habere que dicat: and as a proof chat he meant to entail all this pompous Dominion upon his Race, he had a Law ready to be propofed for a privilege of taking as many Wives as he thought fic, and of what quality and condition he thought fit. His ads of "Tyranny were indeed fo many, fo high and infupportable, that even his dear friends the populace, notwithftanding all his bounties, his featts and fhews, and all his other arts to footh and debauch them, grew fallen and difeontented: they declaimed againft fuch ufusrpation, in their houfes and in the Forum; they called aloud for avengers, and gave him publick affronts. Br the Laws of Rome the Dominion of one, and confequently the dominion of cesax, was deteftable and accuried, and any man was warranted to flay the Tyrant: erm jus fa/que effet occidi, newe ea cedes Capitalis noxa baberetur, Nor was"there any valid realon againgt kil- ling cesax, bue that fomewhat as bad or worfe was co follow: now the bet and ‘ableft Romans judged otherwife, as I have hewn, and who was better qualified 0 judge? As co crs ax’s prophecy of worfe times, it was deciding in his own favour, and not to be credited; and there was policy in it as well as vanity. Tue accomplifhments of cesa, the mildnefs of his adminiftra- tion, and mercy’ to his enemics, have been much magnified. "Tis cer~ tain he ad exquiite abies and addres: but how did he apply them? Was it not to be the Mafter of mankind? and was not this intereft and felf-love? What could be more interefted, what more felfifh, than to take the world to himicif? Cesan had good fenfe and experience: hhe knew that particular aéts of cruelty and revenge were odious, even L more38 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. more odious than the flaughter of thoufands under the title of war and conqueft, however unprovoked and unjuft: fo much more quarter from the world has ambition than cruelty, tho’ the former is often the more mifehievous paffion. He knew that while general ats of blood would pat for Heroilin, fit to be diftinguithed with praife and Laurels, a par~ ticular life taken away in anger, would pafs for barbarity. Such fal- lacy jis there in founds and in’ the imaginations of men! We judge not of evil by its quantity, the true medium of judging, but by ite name and the quality of the doer or fufferer: hence the foolith caufes ‘of popularity without merit and innocence, A€ts of rage, the execu tion of particulars, and a vindictive Reign, would have dinnifled the Hero, and tarnithed his fame, as much as his generofity to enemies, his noble contempt of fear and offenders, blazoned his glory and begot admirers. SeQ.IV. The probability of his waxing more cruel, had be reigned much longer. HE generous, the forgiving temper of cesar, was no fure warrant, that he would not have broke out into perfonal cruel ; for of his publick cruelty, Rome and the world were the Theatre and the witneffes: he mutt have aéted agreeably to the neceffities and jealoufy of power, broken thofe necks which would not bend, and de- Rroyed fuch as he could not but conftantly fear. I own there came after him fome Emperors who reigned without many aés of blood: but the fovereignty was thea thoroughly eftablithed, and they had no high fpirits to fear, bred in the notions and pofleifion of Liberty, as were all the Romans in his time. Nor, even after fervitude had been begun, and for fome time fuffered under czsar, could the fe+ cond Triumvirate think themfelves fecure, tll they had deftroyed ac once by Profcription a whole army of illuftrious Romans, fuch as they cons ceived would oppofe and even extirpate their domination. Nor did this cragical precaution and general barbarity, put an end to barbarity in particular inftances: auGusr us, for the firft years of his Reign, was making almoft daily ficrifices ‘of noble blood co his fears and fafery. Powen of it (elf makes men wanton, diftruftful and cruel: ¢x- san lived not long enough in purple to fhew what he would proves five months were but a fhort term for trials retinnit famam frie expe- rimento. Yc would be rath to affert, that he who had thed the blood ‘of Nations and Armies, without provocation, without authority; he who had violated Liberty and Law, and puc chains upon his Country and the race of men, would have fpared particular lives, when from particular lives he came to apprehend danger and revolt. He that could be piqued even to folly and ridicule, becaufe aqu ILA the Tri- bune did not rife as he paffed bys he who could not put up this, nor forget it, nor ceafe mentioning it upon every occafion for a long while aficr, nor even forbear feolding at it, muft have been capable of carrying his refentment very far, as well as of fadden anger; nay, been full of capricious and childith humours. How far fuch hv mours and vanity and anger might have carried him, he lived not to fhew, But he had amply thewn, that his Ambition was dearer to him than Rome and the whole earth, and to this private paffion of his, 4 everyDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. 39 every publick regard had "yielded: the genuine mark this of a Ty rant, who rules the State for his own fake, and, rather than not rule it, enthralls it! Cxsar, who had committed all wickednef to gain power, would have committed more to have kept it, as foon as he found more to be neceffary: nemo enim wnguan imperium flagitio gra» fitum bonis artibus exercuit. Wuar avails the fair behaviour of one who may do what he pleafes? What avail his fair promifes, which he may break when he pleafes? The worft of the Roman Emperors began their Reigns well; many of them excellently well, a= WERo; cLavorus, caLt GULA, DOMITIAN: mibil abnuentem dum dominationis adipifeeretur. Some of them reigned well for fome years. Crsar was generous, magnificent, and humane to affedtation, but camétis affettibus flagran- tiorem dominand: libidinem 3 every paftion, every fentiment muft yield to the ardent luft of reigning. “Had it not been for his great and ac- er the Hero, the Orator, and the fine Gentleman, hid the Ufarper, and palliated at leaft the Ufurpation. Ler any man confider CESAR as.a Subjett of the State, altoge- ther private; one who never bore Office or Authority; as’ Phyfi- cian, a Scribe or an Artift, or as one juft ftarted out of obfeurity, or come from another Country ; and ther afk himfelf, what has this man; this private unknowa man, to do with governing all men againft Laws eftablifhed by all? His being once Conful, his commanding of Armies, and appearing in a great publick lights gave him no more right to do what he did, ‘than the quality of an Artift, a Scribe, Phyfician, Up- fart, or Stranger, would have given him: publick truits betrayed were aggravations of his crime, horrible aggravations! fo were his excellent parts impioufly applied. Se&t.V. Cesar x0 lawful Magifirate, but a publick Enemy. F cxsan, his Ufurpation and Death I have reafoned largely elfewhere*, and thall here abridge part of that reafoning. “He «had no fore of Title, but faccef gained by violence and all wicked means. The acquiring and exercifing of Power by force is Ty- « ranny, nor is faccels any proof of right. If the perfon of cesar « was facred, f0 is che perfon of every Ufuurper and Tyrant: and if all « che privileges and impunity belonging to a lawful Magiftraic, do alfo © appertain to a lawlefS Introder and publick Oppreffor, then all chef © bleffed confequences follow: There is an utter end of all right and « wrong, publick and private: Every Ufurper is 2 lawful Magiftra « every Magiftrate may be a lawlefS Tyrant: It is unlawful to refitt « the greatcft_ human evil: The neceflary means of felf-prefervation « are unlawful: Tho’ it be lawful and expedient to deftroy little Rob « bers, who are fo for fubfiftence, "tis impious and unlawful to op- pol’ great Robbers, who deftroy Nations out of luft and ambition: ‘ublic mifchief is defended by giving it a good name, fince Tyranny may be practifed wich impunity, if ic be but called Magittracy; and « the exccrable Authors of it are ficred, if they but call theinfelves & Magiftrates: Tho’ it be unlawful to be a public deftroyer, yee it is © anlawful 4 See eaves Lettrn, Voli49 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, « unlawful to deftroy him, and to prevent or punith that which is « moft impious and unlawful: In fine, any man who has wickednefs and force enough to deftroy or enflave the whole world, may do « ie and be fafe. «If cesar was a lawful Magiftrate, every powerful villain may make himflf one, and lawful Magiftrates’ may become fuch by mere force and iniquity. But if lawful Magiftracy be not acquired by violence and butchéry, Cesar was none; if he was nor, how « came he by the tights and impunity of fach? “Against lawlef force every man has a right to ule force: cesar had no more right than ALARICK, ATTILA, of BREN- nus, who were fordign Invaders: his crime was greater, as to that of ufurpation he added thofe of ingratitude and treachery. It is owned that when he firft made war upon his Country, his Country had a right to make war wpon him : how came that right to ceafe, «when he had heightened that iniquity by fuccets? Is it lawful « fo refit a Robber before he has robbea you, but not after? Ie a « wickednefs leffened by aggravations? Cesar had forfeiced his life by all the Laws of Rome: was it not as lawful to take it away by thirty men as by thirty thoufand in the Senate as in the field? “ A private man in fociety, even capitally injured, muft not be his own judge, but leave revenge to the more impartial Law: but a ca- pital offender againft all, who fets himfelf above Law and Judg- Tent, is public enety, aad violinee is the proper remedy for violence, when no other is left. In a State of Nature, every man hag a right to vindicate him@elf: when Society is diffolved, the fame right returns, Men ean never be deprived of both publick protec~ « tion and private defence. «“ Cesar had violated every tye that can bind the human fouls Oaths, Truft, and Law: he had violated every thing dear to human kind, their Peace, Liberty, Rights and Poffeffions. ”’He did all this by means the moft black and flagitious; by Plots, Faétion, Corrup- tion, Robbery, Devaftation, Sacrilege, and Slaughter. « Waar was left to the oppreffed Romans to do, under the bonds of the Oppreffor with his fiword ac their throat? Law and Aj peals were no more; a ‘Tyrant was their Matters the Will of a Ty- « rant their Law. Becaufé he had flaughtered and deftroyed one half « of the people, had he thence a right to govern the reft? There ‘was no publick force to oppofe him he had deftroyed many of the Armies of the State, and appropriated the reft to himfelf againtt the « States it would have been madnefs to have thonghe of judicial pro cel. “In fhort there was no other way of abolithing his Tyramy, but by difpacching the Tyrant. Sc&. VI. Of the fare which Cafualties had, in raifing the Name and Memory of casa. The Judgment of' cr cEno concerning bim. P OPLE fafter their own imagi ions to abufé and miflead them : the found of crsan’s Name5_ the fuperftitions reverence paid tof ie reat employmencs, great vitories, and even his great far~ pation; all thefe pompous images dazzle the eyes, and give a falfe hic fire to’ the blackeft iniquity and impoflure, Nay ic proved an advan 2 tageDISCOURSES UPON TACITUS. 4r tage to the fame and defence of cesar, that he was affaffinated. Hence fo much popular pity and lamentation for him; hence fo much rage and obloguy upon the Tyrannicides. A violent death or violent fafferings, often pals for great merit, often atone for great crimes; and in the compaffion for the doom of criminals the abhorrence of their villanies is often extinguifhed : malefaétors the moft barbarous, who never fhewed any mercy in their lives, are bewailed ac their execution, only becaufe they are executed. T were were circumitances alo in his Death favourable to his fam he died with decency and a manly fpirit, and he fell by the hands of hi friends. Thefe circumftances, and his bloody thirt difplay'd to a mob, with an artful melting jpeech from aNTHONY, inflam’d chem with forrow and fury; two gro paffions which do not reafon but feel. ‘The fame topicks have ever fince furnifhed undifcerning Declaimers with big words and vehemence, in behalf of fo fine @ man, flain for no fault but that of Ufarpation and Tyranny : a final crime, that of being the enemy of human kind! As to the glory and profperous fortune of this mighty Conqueror, excero fays with great truth, “ that Felicity is nothing elfe but good « fortune afiting righteous Counfels: nor can he whofe purpofes are « not upright, be'from any fuccefs efteemed in any wife happy : hence « “tis chac from the impious and abandoned purfuits of CESAR, no « true felicity could flow : happier in my judgment was CAMILLUS «« under exile from his Country, than MANZ1us his co-temporary «had been, tho’ he had acquired over his Country that Tyranny « which he lufted after” Epi. ad nepot. ‘The fame wife man fays elfewhere, “that he would have preferred the laft day of aN- © ronzus the Orator, tragical as ic was, to the ufurped rule of « cua, by whom that worthy Roman was barbaroully murdered,” Tcannot admire cesa’s ambition: he would rather have been Lord ‘of a poor Village than the fecond man in Rome. To me ie appears more glory to be the Member of a free Stare, efpecially of the greateft ‘State upon earth, than a Lord of Slaves, the biggeft Lord, Seét. VIL. How vain it is to extol any Defigus of bis for the Glory of the Ronn people. ‘Tis fiid that cesar was meditating great and glorious things for the Roman people, when he was cut off, He might indeed have thered empty Laurels for himfelf by more wars at the expence of the people; but how this would have redounded to their advantage I cannot fec. I can cafily fee that all the future ftrength he could have acquired muft have been acquired to himfelf and over them; and every acceffion of power muft, by raifing his Tyranny higher, have fanke them lower, and ftreighten'd their chains. He wanted to fight the Parthians, but firft he wanted to be Kings and for this purpofe a Pro- phecy was forged, that none but a King could conquer them: was this impudent forgery too and the defign of it, for the glory of the People who were abuled by it? Tn thort he could have done nothing heneficial or glorious for che Roman people, but to have reftored chem to their ancient and fubftantial Glory, chat of their Liberty and Laws. This too would have been the highelt glory of his own Life, which to M thofe42 DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS thofe who confider things as they are, ftript of foolith fair names and difguifes, is without this all over black and infamous. ‘No man’s life can be faid-to be devettable, if his was not: fecing all the malefaéors condemned fince there were’ men and crimes, did not hhalf the mifehief which he did. It was even currently believed (and what worfe could be believed of him than he had done?) that he meant to tranflate the feat of Empire, with all its ftrength, to Ilium, or to Alexandria ; and having exhauited all Italy by great levies, (that the might never recover her felf) he would have begun, probably, a new fort of Sovereignty upon his own model, exempt from the names and. appearances of the old Conftitution and Laws, which ftill had reverence paid them at Rome, and confequently were fo many grievances to him. Rome he intended to have left to the dominion of his creatures. Ieis robable he thought himfelf nor fafe at Rome, nor in any place which pe eas een or rd pe pee poe ge hhead of Armies. He had reafon for his fear: the fevereft oppreffor can never tye the hands of all the oppreffed, nor put chains upon their re~ fentments. Sea. VIM. Of his Death; and the rafkne/s of aferibing 10 divine Vengeance the fate of fuch as flew him. 'N the midit of his farther defigns, whatever they were, a bloody doom overtook this man of blood, and he was lawfully flain; tho” not by the forms of Law: absfiis dominatione & jure caefus exiffima- vetur (Sueton.) : his lawlels power had made this imnpofiible. Iris trae they who flew him were themfelves flain, ‘The righteoufhels of a caufe does not always enfure its fuccefs; too feldom, God knows: but they who perith in defence of the Laws, are fain again: Law: fuch se ag eh ogre a cris satis ce with'd and flain in a great Civil War, at a time when Courage, and frtue, and Patriotifin were capital and proferib’d. Dap none of thofe who dettroy'd cxsan die a natural death? no more did not CEs.ax, who deftroyed the State. If this was not ajudg- ment upon him, why thould cheits be one upon them? What rule have we to know a judgment, but from the juflice or iniquity of a caufe? If fo, crsax fell by the appointment of Heaven ; bx UTUS and his brethren by the malice of Men. But if there be no rule, or ifjudgments, like partics, take different fides; how dare we pronounce? How many of the Cefars his fucceffors died naturally? Not one, if we will believe the Hiftorians and probability, from ¢xsan the Dida tor to the Emperor vespastan. Aveustus was poifoned by Liyta his wile; Timenivs lipothere’ by Macko his favorite, to make way for CALIGULA, who was flain with the fword by che officers of his guard: acrrpesNa poifoned her husband ota v= pivs: NEKO tabbed himfelf: Gana was murdered by the fol- diers, f was VirELLius: or uo fell by his own hands, 3 Dis.DISCOURSES UPON TACITUS, 43 DISCOURSE Iv. Upon ocravius cesar, afterwards called AUGUSTUS. Se&.1. Of the bafe and impivas Arts by which he acquired the Empire. Y the death of the Ufurper, Liberty was reftored, but lafted not; libertate improfpere repetita; and octavrus fucceeded cesar, by no fuperiour genius, by no military prowefs or magnanimity ; for ticking and deceit conftituted his chief parts, and tho’ he was bold in Council, he was a coward in the field: but he ufurped the Empire by methods fo low and vile, as brought difgrace even upon Ufurpation ; by 2 thoufand frauds, and turns fuddenly made, ‘without the common appearances of decency or thame; by thoufands of murders deliberately committed, without the appearance of procels or provocation; by multiplied treacheries, affaffinations, and aas of ingratitude; by employing Ruffians and being himfelf one; and by de- firudtive wars conduéted by the bravery of others. He levied forces without authority; and under a lying pretence of defending Liberty, got to be employed by the State againft aw tHoNy. ‘He then robbed the Commonwealth of her Armies; and was thought to have murdered both her chief Magiftrates, the Confuls urn rus and Pansa, the former by his own hand in the hurry of battle, the other after it, by caufing poifon to be pour'd into his wound by cr ¥co his Phyfician, It is certain the Phyfician was fufpeéted, feized, and even doom’d to the torture, buit faved by the credie of his mafter ocravrus; whofe villany had thee farther aggravations, that he was generally believed co have been a Pathick to Hin T1us for hires and PANsa had ever a tender regard for him, a regard fuperior to that which he owed his Country, as he manifefted by the advice he gave him before he expired under agonies caufed by 7 | contrivance of that his beloved and perfidious friend. ‘WartH this very Army of the Commonwealth he turned head upon the Commonwealth, marched in a hoftile manner to Rome, and fent adepuration of Officers to his Mafters the Senate, to demand the Con- fulfhip in the name of the Legions ; and upon fome hefitation thewn by that-venerable Body, one of thefe armed Embaffadors laid his hand upon his fivord, and told them, « If you will not make him Conful, «© this fhall.”. For his firtt credit with the Senate he was beholden to cxcERo, at whole fit he was wufted with command in conjunétion with the Confuls, and dignified with the title of Propretor. We fee how he requited the Senate, we fee how he ferved the Confuls: and erceno his fither in Counfel, and the father of che Republick, he deliver'd up to be murder'd and mangl'd by his implacable enemy. Seet